Fabula Rasa
by clockwork starlight
Summary: A blank story. Because physics doesn't apply to relationships, so I can totally make something out of nothing. DevArt 100themes. A serious attempt at a mostly serious story. I wandered away from canon in 2009 and I am not going back. Just so you know.
1. Introduction

Because we all know Renoa Heartilly has the best bandwagons. Quick tribute to her and her work. By the part of my brain that hasn't been melted. Much love, clockwork. Other standard disclaimers apply.

1. Introduction

* * *

He wonders, briefly, if maybe destroying the village wouldn't have been the better option. He really doesn't want another _genin_ team, even if Naruto is stuck in the same boat.

Hyuuga Hanabi is small and delicate-looking, and she stomps as hard as she can on Naruto's foot when he points this out. Kakashi smacks the blond on the head with his book while reaching out to pull her hair, materializing out of nowhere and four hours late.

He smiles behind his mask like he hasn't done this before and calls for introductions.

Naruto's goals haven't changed in five years, nor have his likes and dislikes. The only difference is he's not interested in the _kunoichi_ present, and _she's_ staring at Sasuke for another reason entirely. It's almost a comfort to know the idiot at least, will remain constant.

Kakashi looks expectantly at Sasuke. Hyuuga Hanabi is peering at him calculatingly, no doubt trying to figure out how he ranks as an opponent. She doesn't look like she takes kindly to being second place. Sasuke looks blankly back at his teacher.

"Pass," he says indifferently.

The girl is about to say something, but a flutter of chakra and ginkgo leaves stops her. Hanabi shuts her mouth and scampers over to the new arrival, casually asking if her favorite tree appreciates this use of foliage.

Hinata doesn't have the time to answer her sister. Once she catches her breath, bent over and gasping quietly, she pushes Hanabi toward the Hyuuga estates with a few desperate words. Hanabi pales beneath her natural coloring and doesn't even bother to bid farewell to her teacher before hopping off the roof and flitting away.

Hinata straightens her back, but does not raise her head.

"I am very sorry for the interruption. My sister, Hyuuga Hanabi—"

Sasuke notes the bow comes too effortlessly for a Hyuuga, who do not bend their head or their wills so easily. And yet everything about it is sincere and dignified.

Kakashi waves the apology away, cheerfully.

"We're just doing introductions, Hyuuga-sama. Maybe you can fill in for today." He gestures her closer, rude to a fault, to assume her _byakugan_ is activated.

Hinata takes no offense and those few steps obligingly.

"Her goals?" Kakashi prompts.

"Ah… I don't know specifically, but I would guess… to make her family proud?"

"Likes and dislikes?"

"L-likes? Roasted corn and sweets and eh," she smiles to herself, "festivals. Especially ones with fireworks. She doesn't like fish or _kabuki_."

"Birthday? Weight? Favorite color, actor—"

Hinata stares at the _jounin_ in horror. Surely this isn't necessary information.

"He's just teasing now," Naruto pipes up.

"Stupid."

Hinata starts and looks at her sister's teammates for the first time. "Naruto-kun! Uchiha-dono." She bows again in greeting, and turns back to their teacher in consternation.

"Kakashi-san, you must be aware Hanabi has been training within the Hyuuga household since she was four. Her Academy placement…"

"Yes, yes," Kakashi nods enthusiastically, "the age restrictions instated by the Sandaime." No one looks at Sasuke, who doesn't fucking care about the marks his brother has left on the village. "But it's because she's been through such rigorous training, that we felt it would be best for these three cute _genin_ to be on the same team. Too great an imbalance of power would have a bad effect on the team dynamic, right, Hyuuga-sama?"

"Ah, yes but the missions," Hinata tries again, helplessly.

"Hanabi-chan is sure to come in handy catching cats! Don't worry," he tells her softly. "To target any one of them, you would have to go through the other two. And me."

"Of course, _sensei_. I didn't mean to criticize the arrangement."

"It is unusual. But there's no helping all the trouble that follows Naruto around." He shakes his head in mocking defeat.

Naruto howls in protest, and to shut him up, Sasuke shoves him. In a comradely fashion. Naruto, sprawled on the ground, doesn't see it that way and goes for his legs.

Kakashi turns to Hinata to ask resignedly, "Girls are supposed to have a calming effect on their teammates, right?"

Hinata hides her laughter behind her hand and says she doesn't know before taking off. She glances over her shoulder, to see Naruto waving a wild goodbye, and Sasuke contemplating her despite the tanned hand pushing his face into the bench.

* * *

Because boys are boys, and I'm already screwing with canon over here.


	2. Love

Fit the Second! I wasn't lying about there being 100 of these. Holy crap, am I really going to try and make a canon story out of them? I'm out of my freaking mind. But we knew that.

2. love

* * *

"I apologize for my absence."

Sasuke thinks good manners would suggest she _not_ sound like every word is ripped out of her like teeth. He supposes he should be glad she's not whining about the early hour. She's probably used to being awake by now. At least she'll have eaten breakfast, probably not enough to last her through the day, but enough to stave off hunger for a few hours. She's probably too confident to believe this exercise will be horrific enough to make her vomit. Sasuke has no doubt Kakashi's stupid bell test will still require him to exert himself. The girl will not know what's in store, Naruto's probably forgotten, and Sasuke isn't sure he's any good at this teamwork thing yet.

She knows she sounds rude and arrogant, it can't be helped though; Hanabi is not used to bowing before the untitled, even if they are her teammates. She has spent too many years being told she is a Hyuuga and therefore proud. She knows she _shouldn't_ have skipped out like that yesterday, but she did and so she must apologize. But it stings.

"No worries," encourages Naruto, who doesn't realize she's an important person. He doesn't know it yet, but he reacts to it and to her. She's going to help change the Hyuuga, even though right now she's just a twelve year old who looks kind of like Neji. "But what was so important you had to miss the first day out of the Academy for?"

Hanabi tenses even more, unfolding herself stiffly out of formality.

"One of my family members," the words are like drops of molten glass, falling from her lips only to shatter, "suddenly fell ill and the house was unable to care for her, so she was sent to the hospital. She took care of me in place of my late mother."

Naruto nods like he understands the burden and bliss of having parents. "You must love her a lot."

"Don't be ridiculous," she says without bite, as if she's practiced this often enough that she can't bring herself to put any emotion in it. "I'm very grateful to her, but there is no need for such a vague and unnecessary word like 'love'. She raised me according to my father's wishes, as was her duty. There is no place for fondness or affection."

"A _shinobi_ must never let her emotions overcome her," Kakashi remarks, "but that doesn't mean she mustn't have them. Naruto, next time, don't be late."

"Ahh man, it was only a few minutes! S'better than you!"

Kakashi ignores him to hold up a pair of silver spheres. From the expression on his face, Naruto remembers this. Hanabi waits for some kind of explanation, shifting on her feet. Sasuke isn't even looking, but he cocks his head in acknowledgment as they sway silently in the breeze. His brow furrows and he stares at Kakashi in concentration.

The teacher smiles brightly, and tugs the string, proving that these aren't bells.

"The rules are easy enough, right? Steal a bell, and I'll give you lunch, and _probably_ not send you back to school. And then we can go on to the next part of the day, if you're still a _ninja_, when we'll work on your individual skills as part of this team. Obviously, not eating will make the afternoon that much harder. Oh and boys… let Miss Hanabi learn for herself this one time." He pulls out a kitchen timer, shaped like a chicken, and tucks the spheres away. "You have half an hour. Begin!"

The three dart away from the clearing into the tree cover. Even though Naruto's chakra is impossible to hide, Sasuke sits with him for forty seconds until Hanabi appears beside him.

"He's the decoy, right?" she asks, pointing at the blond.

Sasuke nods, Naruto pouts. Still Sasuke can't help but ask, "You're not going to try to take them yourself?"

Hanabi scoffs. "I've been training too long to be stupidly confident. And he called them bells, even though they don't make noise. Before, when you two did this, the target was easier to get to, right?" She looks at her hands because she doesn't know where else to rest her gaze. "I saw it, he infused them with chakra. To find them and take them, you need the _byakugan_ and you someone stronger than me."

"Well yeah," Naruto rubs his nose with a finger, "our other option was killing and stripping him. But if you're ready to do this, I am."

"Expect to starve, dumbass." Sasuke gives him an almost imperceptible smile. Naruto knows him well enough, even now, to catch it. If the Hyuuga notices, she doesn't care.

"Hey, no fair! _Saa-suke_!" Naruto's whining grates his ears.

"Shut up, Uzumaki," snaps Hanabi. "You can have mine."


	3. Light

I don't feel like writing this bit. You're supposed to have figured it all out by now.

3. light

* * *

Sasuke doesn't want to admit it, but he's really glad the Hyuuga isn't a moron. She found them of her own accord, and quickly too. He's not sure if Kakashi felt her presence near theirs; his teacher is inscrutable behind the mask and the book, as usual. Naruto is attacking strong and Kakashi defending easily, but neither of them is going full force; that much should be clear, even to the girl.

The book disappears into a pocket mere seconds before Sasuke slips behind Kakashi, shuriken drawn and ready.

Kakashi doesn't even blink. He is mildly relieved though, that it's three shuriken in Sasuke's hand, rather than a blade. Both former students recognize this is more for Hanabi's benefit than old time's sake, and are handicapping themselves. Sasuke's pretty sure he'd beat his old mentor with his sword, even if Naruto weren't there.

Hanabi is duly impressed, if annoyed. Her new teacher can keep the _kyuubi_ vessel off with his left hand, and the last Uchiha with his right, and one eye closed. She checks the timer. Six minutes. They're killing time until she joins the actual fight. Fine then. She jumps down from her tree branch, scattering leaves as she does.

She's not purist enough to dive straight into her family's technique, electing to incapacitate his knees and elbows. Or at least try to. Her chakra laden fingers brush lightly against his right sleeve, nowhere close to where he has hidden the bells. Naruto has gone through about ten clones and another five are waiting to disappear. He notices too late that one of them has the wrong expression, too serious and focused to belong. Already that one has slid beneath his arm with a fluid grace Naruto could never have, hand closing over the slight bulge in his vest, chakra tearing through the material.

The real Hanabi dispels the illusion shrouding her, and the Hanabi clinging to Kakashi's arm dematerializes in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke gives his teacher a look that speaks of unmet expectations and disappointment his mentor had fallen for it. Naruto's smile is mostly goofy with a hint of gloating as the chicken clicks into the zero mark and moos loudly.

Hanabi stares at it in disbelief, fist closed around her prize. Her fingers can't fully curl around both orbs, she regards her tiny hands impassively, letting the metal catch the sun in the gaps.

Kakashi hangs his head in surrender, but he is smiling with his eye. Hanabi flicks a bell at each of her teammates while their teacher congratulates the new Team 8 for passing.

"Told you you could have it," she smirks mischievously at the disbelief on the others' faces.

"Hanabi!" Hinata's feet tap the ground lightly, even though she's trying to hide her quiet panting. "Sachiko-san insisted on making you lunch, even though we told her to rest and that I already made one and— Oh I'm sorry, have you finished?" Hinata looks around her with an innocent, wide-eyed curiosity. Hanabi holds out her hand expectantly for her food.

Sasuke thinks being a _genin_ this time around might be interesting too.

-vovovovov-

Sasuke takes one look at the lunches Kakashi undoubtedly picked up from some cheap convenience store and chucks the bell at his teacher's head. He strolls over to the sisters, who are arguing over which lunch Hanabi should eat.

"But she made it just for you, despite five people trying to get her back in bed," pleads the elder.

"I've been eating those six days a week for _years_," retorts the younger, reaching desperately for the varnished ebony her sister is holding over her head. "Besides, you definitely put _daifuku_ in it, and Sachiko-obasan doesn't like me eating sweets."

Another, larger, hand takes Hinata's _bento_ from her and opens it. Sasuke plucks out the coveted sweets and the decorated paper and shoves them at the girl, who receives them mutely. Hinata recovers first and gives Hanabi the cherry wood box she has been refusing.

Sasuke dusts the flour off his fingers and tells them,

"I don't like sweets."

Hanabi scowls at him. "Don't say that like she's gonna make you lunch _too_."

"Oh, but it wouldn't be too much trouble, and—"

Sasuke sits and savors his meal, Naruto scarfing food in the background, and these two ridiculous clan heiresses quarrelling over pickled vegetables.

The new team might not be so bad.


	4. Dark

4. dark

* * *

Her long dark hair got caught in a rose bush while she was chasing the stupid cat. The thorns left scratches on her face and hands, and Naruto laughed at her while she tried to untangle herself. It took half the day to retrieve Shuu-chan, because Hanabi was too busy telling Naruto to fuck himself to tell Sasuke where the hell the damn thing was, and Kakashi was mumbling things like 'teamwork…failing…back to the Academy… I need to be paid better' into his headset with no apparent intention of helping them.

Hinata makes sympathetic noises as she smears ointment on the little cuts and scrapes. Hanabi stabs the dumpling like she's imagining a certain teammate and bites into it viciously. Her older sister's fingers comb her hair gently, and pile it in a bun, black cord to keep its shape and a pair of her own _senbon_ to hold it up.

"Don't you have better things to do?"

Kakashi glares at Sasuke over his lunch, before turning to Hinata genially. "He means to say, 'Don't let us keep you.' Even geniuses can forget their manners."

Sasuke gives his teacher a dark look, but gives Hinata a small tilt of the head in apology anyway. She smiles easily, and is quick to say she enjoys their company. Even so, she stands and brushes at her knees. She bows goodbye and disappears.

"Jerk," observes Hanabi to her riceball. Naruto asks why she's calling her food names.

Sasuke refrains from hitting him with the lid of his _bento_. Only out of respect for the Hyuuga's property and generosity.

-vovovovov-

Hanabi finds use for this new style. She escaped Naruto's vise-like hold by wrenching her head back and poking him in the shoulder with the points of the needles. Her hair came loose, but Naruto isn't fazed and threatens to cut her hair for her, brandishing a _kunai_ wildly while he yells. Hanabi takes an unholy pleasure in getting behind him, and as he turns, places her fist to punch in him the mouth.

-vovovovov-

The sky is growing dark, matching Hanabi's expression. She's not entirely sure _how_ she turned her ankle, but the fact remains that she has. She has no desire at all to be carried home by _any_ of her teammates, but she can't reach Naruto's head to smack it. She spends half the journey home complaining about how they can't be a proper team if no one listens to her or respects her wishes. Naruto jolts her and she swipes at his face, hand bent to claw his eyes out.

"Kakashi hasn't said it yet, but he did years ago. Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum." Naruto gives her his usual grin, like she doesn't notice the weight of those words is heavy about all of her new team.

"Who wants to be friends with _you_?" she asks rudely, crossing her arms and scowling. She does stop struggling though.

Sasuke walks with them silently, carrying four empty lunches.

The doorkeeper gives the trio a wary look, eyes resting on the tiny heiress who is almost completely overshadowed by the muscular frame holding her up. The last Uchiha tails the procession, a stack of inlaid lacquered borne like treasures.

Hinata flies out of a garden they didn't see, Neji close behind. From the burns on both their hands, Sasuke can tell they were training. Neji takes his cousin from Naruto, neither rough nor gentle, and disappears into the house, telling her off for not wrapping her feet beforehand. The elder heiress wrings her hands a little, torn between bidding them thanks and goodbye, and asking what happened.

-vovovovov-

She is not completely without resources.

"Thank you for bring her home. Would you care to stay for dinner?" She bows courteously.

Sasuke stops Naruto from being a complete ass with a light blow to the head.

"We don't want to impose," he mutters, even though Naruto clearly finds inconveniencing people one of his few talents.

"Please, it's no imposition. It would only be me and my sister." She doesn't say _soke_ is not allowed to dine with _bunke. _"My father is out of town at the moment."

She wants to eat with them, he realizes. She's too polite a creature to leave him with her _bento_ boxes for no reason. Especially when hitting Naruto with one hand almost sends them crashing to the ground. She's not going to take them until he says yes or makes an impolite bastard of himself. The soft glow in her eyes says she knows exactly what she's doing and feels no shame whatsoever about it. Everyone knows when he caves.

"We'd love to!" crows Naruto triumphantly.

"Not like anyone else is waiting for us," he grumbles, to save some face.

Hinata smiles warmly and relieves him of her burden. "This way."


	5. Seeking Solace

Repressive as it was, I like the idea of the Hyuuga mirroring the dynastic age. Naruto-verse is kind of a poster-child against feminism. Only the girls that can beat up the boys are allowed to stand at the same level. Ayame is going to be scooping noodles FOREVER. It's in fanfiction. It MUST be true. When Ino isn't out killing people or blending in with the foliage, she's selling flowers. And you wonder why Tsunade spends all her free time in dens of iniquity. Rather than a medic, Sakura should have joined a demolition team, but noooo. Okay, I'm better now.

5 seeking solace

* * *

There's a small corner in a big garden. The garden is Hyuuga's; the corner is no one's. Hanabi thinks it's a good allegory. Metaphor. One of those words that compares small things with absolute truths.

She's twelve, and better versed in fighting than philosophy. She doesn't need to know what it's called.

She's twelve and she doesn't have a mother or a clubhouse or a table in an ice cream parlor. She doesn't have a place to call sanctuary. She's got the corner though, even though she's not no one. In a house of servants who can have conversations with a flutter of a nod and old people who are wrinkly and sharp like crumpled paper and family who can see through things… she's stuck seeking solace in this pathetic excuse for a hiding spot.

It's a nice corner though. The sun keeps one wall warm and the other in cool shadow, and it's kind of homey. It smells a little like medicine and a lot like dirt. Hinata's little herb patch is tucked away around a decorative wall… and the dirt is a natural thing.

She's twelve and a _ninja_. She's perfectly comfortable with dirt. It's hard to pretend to be a porcelain doll when there's clumps of it between your toes. And the herbal scent is nice too, because it means someone is with you, trying to save your life, right? Even if it is just a job, you not being a bleeding mess means someone puts value in you. She likes the smell of medicine. It means someone tried.

-vovovovov-

She doesn't have to strain very hard to hear Naruto chatting, with Sasuke presumably, while they try to find the right entrance. Hanabi wonders if the guard will send him around to the back servants' entrance. It would be funny.

She tries to blend further into the wall; she wants to go on a mission that will get her out of here before the caravan leaves. It's rather horrible of her, since she and Aiko once shared her mother's _anpan_.

"Hanabi-chan can pack for the mission while we introduce ourselves to the bride!" declares an increasingly loud voice. Hanabi tells herself that it's not her heart sinking. It's because she ate too many _wasabi_ peas that her chest feels weird.

She's twelve and a ninja and going to escort her distant cousin to her husband.

"Killing two birds with one stone, right?" says Naruto, like he will personally make sure everything works out.

"Surely there's a better way to phrase that," mutters Kakashi. "Remember how _your_ first C-rank mission turned out?"

C-rank, good god, really? Is it to make the fifteen year old girl feel better? Hanabi doesn't think anyone is going to mess with a merchant family's new wife. There are dozens of girls like her, born to noble families, too far removed to have any real status, soft, weak; only good as wives and connections. Aiko was never once considered by her family as a candidate for the Academy. She didn't have to learn the succession techniques either. Hanabi knows it was only a matter of time before she got married off. If a girl can't protect the village with her own hands, she has to be used another way.

-vovovovov-

"You done moping?"

"Oi, Sasuke!! Be a little more understanding." Naruto gives her a sympathetic smile, like he fucking knows everything. "You two were good friends, right? At least now you won't have to say goodbye just yet."

Hanabi rolls her eyes and stands up. She sees her sister watching her, and she knows who tattled. "Hardly knew her," she replies smoothly, truth and falsehood and casual dismissal all at once. She sees her sister's brow pucker just a little, but it's gone before Hanabi is done dusting her legs.

A dower and a set of _ninja_. Seems kind of a cheap consolation. But Hanabi likes to set things on fire, so what does she know?

* * *

Before y'all start complaining about ages and pedophilia and statutory and delicate sensibilities… I think you need to remember what era you're in, and what era I'm trying to write. Juliet, aka the most tragic adolescent ever, was not even fourteen when they were discussing her marriage. Wait a sec. Wtf am I on about? Children're already having sex in this day and age. It's just frowned upon now. Never mind.


	6. Break Away

6 break away

* * *

For the longest time, Hinata didn't know what she thought of herself. She should have been harder, stronger, unyielding. If she had, life would be better. Maybe not easier, but better. And if she had been able to prove her worth earlier on… would they have known Hanabi was light on her feet and quick with her hands? Would it be Hanabi in the wedding _kimono_ she is folding up for later?

Aiko is a nice enough girl, trusting and docile. And fertile, she added silently. _Ninja_ training was enough to stave off first blood for a while. But making _genin_ staved off marriage for longer. Arranged marriages, at least. The mortality rate is too high for _shinobi_ to practice a lot of patience, but being _kunoichi_ offered a great deal more freedom than the alternatives; one's own family business, or one's husband's. She tells her mind to drift away from these thoughts. She will change this part of the Hyuuga as well someday.

-vovovovov-

She'd been able to take care of the assassin herself this time. Still, it spoke ill that she had been able to infiltrate the house in the first place, even though she'd been caught in the kitchens and no where near the bedrooms. Weren't women supposed to be better with directions?

Somehow the conclusion had been reached that she should get out of the house for a while. Because no one could lay blame at the feet of the Hyuuga if she died outside her ancestral home?

She had to use the _juken_ inside the kitchen, around the cabinets and hanging vegetables. She wasn't about to get blood in a place where people prepared food. The slash on her knuckles still itches.

Aiko's escort team should be here by now. She wonders if it will be people she knows. She doesn't want to take too long explaining why she is pretending to be a handmaid when she is the Hyuuga heiress. She can feel Aiko's nervousness; it hangs thickly in the air. Hinata pats her shoulder awkwardly, because she's almost eighteen and if there were ever notions of marrying off to someone in Sunagakure to strengthen political bonds, Hinata never heard of them.

Aiko grabs Hinata's hand in both of her own, clutches it as tight as she can. Hinata doesn't even flinch. An untrained adolescent girl doesn't have enough strength to make it hurt. Somehow, she's sucking up peace through the bare contact. Anything more would smear her make up or ruin the lines of her _kimono_.

Hinata senses them, Naruto's presence is too much to hope to conceal. She assumes they're here to collect Hanabi, and frees herself to greet them. She watches from afar, realizing as they talk, that the family didn't know what team was assigned to Aiko, and that the Hokage didn't know the family had a last minute addition to the caravan.

"_Your cousin's only half right," Ino laughed freely. "Fate exists and she's a bitch."_

"_We call that plain bad luck, Ino," Sakura retorted, blotting her lips with her sleeve. "I somehow doubt it was decided before you were born that today would be the day nin-puppies would break loose and mob your ankles in such a way you tripped and ended up kissing me."_

"_Happened to Sasuke," shrugs the blonde, not bothering to wipe her mouth as she bends down to rub as many tummies as she can._

_Hinata was already gathering up the ones determined to get as far away from the other end of their leash in as little time as possible. "K-kiba… you're nose is bleeding."_

Fate or bad luck? It's no use pretending with an illusion, she will have to tell Team 8 herself, and hope Naruto doesn't ruin it. She doesn't like the idea of all these eggs in one basket.

At least with Kakashi and Naruto present, the chances of all three women dying is very small.

-vovovovov-

Too many Hyuuga, is Sasuke's first thought. All women, only two of any use. Hinata breaks away from the others who are laying plans and taking charge to stand near him.

"I look forward to working with you," she murmurs. "I promise you will not need to coddle my sister or myself."

"I'm not expecting any trouble," he says baldly.

"You haven't seen Hanabi when she just wakes up."

"I can read your lips, you know," pipes her sister from behind the wall Sasuke is leaning on. "And _you're_ the pillow addict."

Sasuke doesn't need to ask, his expression gives away his interest, but he keeps his disaffected pose. She surprises him though, with the answer.

"She-she calls me that because I can't sleep without something under my head."

"And because—" Hanabi continues blithely.

"And because I'm so happy to have my pillow when I get home," she finishes in a rush.

"Aww, you stole my line!"

"Who knows _what_ lies you would have spouted," returns Hinata. "If you're done packing… we might as well go."

"Yeah, yeah," mutters the younger sister, "s'not like we're shipping her by express courier."


	7. Heaven

7 heaven

* * *

"One bride delivery, hold the bubble wrap," mumbles Hanabi as they watch her sister help Aiko into her palanquin.

"Hanabi!" chastises Hinata.

"I can hear you. Don't they teach you _ninja_ how to talk quietly?"

Hanabi ignores the slight tremble she detects in Aiko's voice. At least she's not crying.

-vovovovov-

"I hear the girl who was helping Keiko-obasama tried to kill you."

"For a woman like Keiko-obasama, having a broken hip was devastating. And as I understand it, the Branch House does require a lot of looking after." Hinata doesn't look away from the water she is boiling.

"Only 'cause there's so many of them." Hanabi shrugs. "You'd think with all the relatives we have stuffed in there, we wouldn't need outside help."

"Please remember that they only _live_ in the outer wings when they aren't tending to those of the inner court. Namely you."

"I don't need taking care of," snaps her sister. "And I wasn't the one sneaking around for cookies in the _soke_ kitchens in the middle of the night and getting found by assassins."

"One assassin," corrects Hinata, taking the teapot of steeping leaves off the brazier. "And I was making a lunch for Neji-niisan. It was his birthday. You should be more aware of your family."

Hanabi sticks out her tongue and holds the tray of teacups steady while her sister pours. "Tsch, he can't remember my name, I don't need to remember his birthday."

"That was years ago! You were too small to be left unattended, and he avoided the main house like a pit of snakes. You didn't even meet him formally until after he started going to the Academy!"

"Don't care. He called me _hanami_. The hell made him think I was named for flower viewing?"

"I'm sure the _mi_ he was thinking of was 'beautiful'," offers Hinata weakly.

Hanabi gives her best skeptical expression. "You think he knew that much _kanji_ then? Don't—"

"Are you two done with the tea yet?"

"Ah! I'm sorry, Uchiha-dono." Hinata rises fluidly and offers him a cup from Hanabi's tray. Hanabi calls him impolite things under her breath and goes to give Aiko her mildly laced tea. She only wanted enough to make her sleep heavier tonight. Hinata didn't ask why Hanabi knows Aiko is a girl who can't sleep when she is nervous.

-vovovovov-

"Hanabi-chan," whispers Aiko as she sips her tea, "do you believe in heaven?"

Hanabi doesn't answer, because she can't lie and she _can't_ say she doesn't know. But Aiko has no real interest in a response. "Do you think humans can be judged properly and then shipped off to get their 'just desserts'? This… _I_, am honoring the Hyuuga, doing this, right? Am I going to be _rewarded_ for my cowardice?"

"You think some old guy with a giant book is going to be there when you die, to give you the wrong directions to heaven?"

Aiko finally laughs. It's always been too high and coquettish, and Hanabi never really liked it, but it's good to hear right now. Aiko rubs the powder off her face. It was only put on today because custom said she should leave the house looking like the treasured daughter she wasn't actually. In four nights, she will enter Suna looking like the precious bride that she really is. But that's four days away, and she doesn't want to sleep with paint on her face.

"You got a long time before you die anyway," declares Hanabi. "Just 'cause I'm _genin_ doesn't mean you're going to get knocked off with me here."

"Remember the first time you hid from Sachiko-obasama?" Aiko asks, with a smile.

"Yeah, you let me spend the night inside your futon closet."

"I was about ready to smother you with the blankets by the time morning came," she says seriously, but the smile from before keeps her _noh_ face from being sad.

"I guess as your employees… we can't stop you if you do end up killing her." Sasuke tries not to look too eager at the thought.

Hinata stares at Aiko's cup, which has hardly been touched. Aiko notices, and straightens, coming to a decision.

"Thank you for the tea. Can I have a fresh cup? Without… anything unnecessary, please."

Hinata smiles with approval and takes the proffered cup deferentially. Hanabi and Sasuke watch her prepare a fresh pot of tea.

"I find it rather miserable how well the Hyuuga heiress is taking to servitude," says Hanabi at last.

Sasuke drinks his tea silently.


	8. Innocence

8 innocence

* * *

As the handmaid, it should be Hinata drinking with Aiko. Hinata wonders why it is she always feels the need to comfort, even when her sympathy is meaningless. Her sister manages to remain aloof and sharp and still make people feel better. She sees the way Aiko latches on to Hanabi, and concedes to herself it really should be Hanabi drinking with Aiko. Except Sasuke has the cup Hanabi would have drunk from.

She serves the rest of the vanguard readily, and unconcernedly gives Naruto another cup when he drops his, going so far as to dig out her handkerchief for him. Sasuke can see, even from his place by the fire, the delicate embroidery in the corner. She presses it to his palm, innocently oblivious to the intimacy of the gesture.

"It's the idiot's fault for not realizing it was hot," he mutters as she seats herself by the brazier again.

"It was just a cup."

He's not about to point out that it was _her_ cup that shattered; only stretches out his arm, and his empty teacup. She pours carefully, mindful of splashing any onto his hand. He's still holding it out to her when she puts the teapot down.

She blinks in confusion before understanding.

"Thank you," she says warmly, and drinks deeply.

"Awww, you're so gallant, Sasuke." Kakashi returns Hinata's handkerchief, with a warning not to leave such fine things within a mile of Naruto if she can possibly help it.

Hinata stops paying attention, because Aiko is laughing. Her makeup is gone, and suddenly she looks like the fifteen year old she really is.

"Your sister's been trained to kill," says Sasuke, taking back his tea.

Hinata doesn't understand what he means to say. Sasuke looks at her like she's stupid. "The girl's been trained to be a wife. It might not be easier, but it doesn't land so many people in therapy."

She smiles wanly at him. "I think Hanabi likes violence more than Aiko likes being a wife. Hanabi is very good at being a _ninja_."

The teapot is empty. Hinata goes to take Aiko's cup. Sasuke doesn't know why he tags along, but doesn't bother thinking too deeply about it. He's already acknowledged the Hyuuga heiresses are interesting.

* * *

The elder heiress is worth watching. She's much more intriguing than the scenery.

She helps the old man up, fresh-faced and innocent as any sheltered seventeen year old girl, and brushes the dirt off his _hakama_. He thanks her and bows, hands tucked in his sleeves.

Hinata smiles sadly as she pushes her blade between his ribs. He falls to the ground again, knife sliding out of his slack fingers.

Hanabi looks at her, a silent demand in her eyes.

"Kill the chicken to scare the monkey, right? The others had to be watching." Hanabi doesn't look satisfied, but doesn't question her sister any further.

"Do you always lie to her like that?" asks Sasuke, like he thinks older siblings should never lie.

"It wasn't a lie. But it serves as a cover for our difference of opinion. I removed him after he switched from stranger in need to a threat. Hanabi… wouldn't have waited."

"Stupid innocent."

"Me?" She looks surprised. "Maybe. But there's nothing to be gained by killing someone that poses no danger."

"At least you're not completely useless," is his only allowance for her pitiful compassion.

Her stance tightens, he's hit a nerve and she can't allow him to know it. It doesn't really matter, since all _ninja_ disappoint somebody.

-vovovovov-

They're getting closer to the desert, Aiko's hair dries quickly and rustles like dead leaves with each pull of the comb. The younger sister lectures the bride on water use in her new home while she carefully weaves silk flowers into the coil of black hair.

The other retainers have been giving Naruto and Sasuke dirty looks throughout the entirety of the journey. He assumes it's because Uzumaki can casually rough the little girl up while she tries to give as good as she gets, to little success. And Hanabi just wants to annoy him as much as possible; like poking a sleeping snake with a stick, she says.

Hanabi knows full well what improper conduct for a lady of the Hyuuga household is; but knowing doesn't stop her from conducting herself improperly. Hinata is demure enough for the both of them; sitting _seiza_, feet flat against the ground, even though her tearoom dirt and trees, and she has nothing to serve but small packets of cheap leaves in boiled water.

"Hanabi, how many birds do you see?" she asks softly.

"One less now," comes the answer, another _kunai_ in her hand before the first body falls.


	9. Drive

Holy crap. Just so you know, I'm posting 8 installments at once. Although if you have this on alert, you already know. )

9 drive

* * *

Kakashi has to smack Sasuke on the head and tell him not to use any fire _jutsu_; the air is too dry, and the camp too close. Sasuke growls but doesn't set fire to the cords in his hand. Naruto cackles at him as he reaches for his own weapons. One of Sasuke's wires wraps around his ankle and knocks him into the man reaching for the Hyuuga girl. Sasuke's expression clearly says 'payback', but his friend isn't looking any more.

-vovovovov-

Hinata stands and moves her tray out of the way seconds before Naruto's fist drives someone's head into the ground where she was sitting.

"There's hot water here, Naruto-kun. Please be more careful," she chides.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away." He manages to get a better look at what she is preparing while blocking a blow to his stomach. "You made ramen! You're the best, Hinata-chan!"

"You trying to starve the rest of us?" demands Hanabi, petulantly. She hits the woman trying to choke her with more force than necessary when using the _juken_.

"You can't have _katsudon_ every day. And there's curry or soba if you prefer." She flows through the motions, natural and fated like a river, and stops the heart of the man yanking on Aiko's arm. "You don't mind if it's all instant, do you? It was all they had in that last town." There is no denying this is her normalcy. Being attacked is routine; as is completing the mission with casualties or not.

"S'fine, I guess," sniffs Hanabi, already washing her hands.

"Are you alright, Miss Aiko?" Kakashi looks properly concerned.

Naruto aims a kick at his teacher. "You didn't do anything but read that stupid book!"

"You mean I can't trust you to take care of simple highwaymen? I guess I'll reconsider recommending you for the _Chuunin_ Exam—"

"Bastard," mutters Sasuke.

"That's no way to talk to your teacher, even if you are my cute student."

Aiko is trembling like a stalk of bamboo. She stares at the lifeless body in front of her and the blood it coughed up minutes before. It spattered on her _tabi_, red on white and she can feel the wet material sticking to the skin of her feet. Her gaze goes from Hinata to Hanabi and finally to her feet again. She bows and snaps up quickly, as if anything more will break her in half.

"I-I'm not hungry, Hinata-sama. Please eat without me."

Hinata watches her retreat ruefully. Still she serves dinner without a word.

"You could have let us handle it," Sasuke says at last. "Be more interesting."

Hanabi scowls at him. "I threw off the grade curve and went back to my lair to laugh. Like hell I was going to sit around and let you have all the fun."

"Your friend looked a little green there. She probably hasn't seen someone die before." concludes Naruto, clueless as ever. "You going to make sure she's alright?"

"She hasn't seen us kill before," Hinata corrects him, quiet words that ring out. "Trees don't bleed when you hit them."

Hanabi's face twists, and she rocks in her seat a little, like the conflict of Aiko's oversensitivity and her misplaced guilt is too much to take sitting still. "S'what _ninja_ do," she says as if that's all that should matter.

Protect, even if it drives them away. That's her _nindo_.

Part of it. The other part involves being as annoying as possible while still getting the job done.

Like when she was younger and devised a way to save Hinata's inheritance while still proving she could kick ass. It was fairly simple actually, and Hanabi is proud and kind of disappointed it worked so well.

She borrowed a pair of glasses from some childish disguise set, because she really did admire Suzume-_sensei,_ and fewer people bothered her about her _doujutsu_. Somehow the family concluded she would be unable to fully utilize the _byakugan_ when her regular vision was imperfect. Hanabi let them think whatever they wanted, all she ever had to do was say she was growing, and someone else would fill in the blank.

Hinata came back from a mission to find Hanabi trying to paint lotus blossoms on the wire frames, and told her not to deface the Academy's property.

The glasses are hidden in the box stuffed between the back of her shelf and the wall. A private reminder to herself that she has been awesome for years, since she can't tell anyone else she was wearing glasses to look cool.


	10. Breathe Again

Right right. Blanket disclaimer no jutsu I own nothing, and it's better that way, and while I /should/ be held responsible for my creative messes... I plead oddity of the nth water.

10 breathe again

* * *

Hanabi is not a _ninja_ for nothing. It isn't very difficult to understand that Aiko can't reconcile her friend with her job, but it makes things rather strained. She can't stand to be around Hinata or Hanabi, which makes guarding her a little more complicated.

The towering walls that guard Sunagakure loom on the horizon. Hanabi can't help but point out that both Konoha and Suna's defenses, forest and giant brick respectively, need idiot-proofing. She looks pointedly at Naruto, so she doesn't have to meet Aiko's eyes.

-vovovovov-

Aiko doesn't seem to breathe again until they are three feet away from the village proper, being greeted by her new husband.

Hanabi appraises the latest addition to the family from next to Hinata. She doesn't like how this jerk stares at Hinata, like a drink of water in… a desert. She puts him at eighteen or nineteen, going to take over his father's trade lines, and blames hormones. Aiko is fifteen and sheltered and very much still a girl, while Hinata is elegance and dignity and _kunoichi_ and Hanabi doesn't understand what the hell guys find so damn fascinating about her sister's chest.

Hinata, if she notices the attention, doesn't react to it. She greets her cousin's husband with a formal bow that reveals nothing of her actual status.

"Your family wished to have certain stipulations revised? Please know that they will be carefully considered with the family in mind."

He gives her the scroll, without looking away, and Hanabi fights the urge to gag. The face she makes draws Sasuke's attention from the void it was previously occupied with, and the black stare of the last Uchiha is enough unnerve the moron into a hasty retreat. Hinata is too busy reading and thinking to do more than ask Kakashi to stay with Aiko's party until the marriage is signed and sealed.

-vovovovov-

Temari detaches herself from a wall and invites the rest of the Konoha contingent to stay in the Kazekage's estate.

"At least until the party's over," she adds, laughing.

Hanabi isn't done glaring death at Sato or Suzumi or whatever the hell his name is, so Hinata answers for her.

"I'm afraid we must impose on you. Hanabi will be the Hyuuga witness to the marriage. The other men who came here will be staying with Aiko as Satozuki retainers."

"So you can't leave until everything is over and done with. Sweet." Temari bows as the bride is herded off to her new home. "Gaara's going to be so happy to see you, Uzumaki."

-vovovovov-

Gaara's happy face, Hanabi decides, is deceptively named. Not so much being happy as much being less scary. Marginally. Sasuke might have serious competition here. She wonders if he is making notes.

Surprisingly, Naruto is taking a professional interest in Gaara's position as Kazekage. For future reference, he tells them cheekily.

"Being able to read is a requirement," Sasuke informs him blandly. He walks out before Naruto can form an appropriately loud and nasty response.

Temari suggests leaving the boys to catch up, so Hanabi demands a tour, since this is her first time in Suna, and Temari seems more than happy to oblige.

-vovovovov-

Sasuke does a basic perimeter check before going to inspect the rooms they've been given. Eight _tatami_ for the five of them, second floor, one window to the north. The elder heiress has been busy he sees, taking in the discarded drafts littering the floor around her and the smell of freshly ground ink.

"Aren't last minute negotiations in bad taste?"

She looks up, taking her cheek off her fist and revealing a stain of ink, the mirror of the one on her hand.

"They are, but since this was an arrangement to demonstrate good will, negotiating to begin with was poor conduct." She sighs and toys with a jade seal. "It would be bad to back out of the marriage agreement entirely, but there's no way we could sign to the terms they proposed just like that." She smiles wanly at him. "I apologize; Team 8 may be here for quite a while."

"Protecting the Hyuuga is part of the job description." He shrugs disinterestedly. He doesn't need to say that Hanabi is the only one of them with any family at all. "Try not to get killed."

Hinata's expression sours slightly, reminded of something unpleasant. "As long as we can get the contract signed by both families, I could die happy."


	11. Memory

God I hate formatting.

11 memory

* * *

Kakashi takes Naruto with him to the Satozuki compound, to ensure nothing untoward happens during politics on that end. Sasuke is stuck supervising the heiresses, who are either very good or very bad at being diplomatic. The only reason the room hasn't been filled with crumpled paper is because Hanabi has them all burnt, unwilling to let anyone see even her sister's unfruitful efforts.

When they finally have something they are happy with, they seek audience with Temari. Temari, however, grimaces and says she doesn't help with trade. She does sneak them into Gaara's office to make up for it, and her brother is more than happy to let her go over finances while he inspects the new Hyuuga proposal.

Finally he admits there hasn't been a union like this within the Elders' memory and so they were of less help than usual. He can't see anything wrong with the terms the Hyuuga have come up with given the demands of the other party, but he asks for a Satozuki representative to be summoned anyway.

-vovovovov-

As bad luck and ill fortune would have it, it's the bastard who's going to marry her cousin who comes to review the new contract, and both sisters can see he is not going to be an easy person to work with.

Hanabi looks at Hinata. And then at the Kazekage. And then examines the asshole again for good measure. Sasuke is somewhere to the left, trying to meld with the wall. And Temari is doing mental arithmetic.

She turns back to Gaara.

"You'll tell me when I'm on the verge of starting an international war, right?"

Hinata looks alarmed but cornered, since this is no time to be a divided front, and easy as it would be to play 'good _ninja_, bad _ninja_', discussions are not interrogations.

Gaara's face is tight, but it's obviously because he's fighting back a grin, since he's not doing a very good job of holding it off. "Naturally," he replies, voice serious.

Hanabi nods shortly and shoves the scroll at the newcomer. Both sisters have memorized every word on the document, and they know by his face when he reads what.

The next hour will be burned into the memory of everyone inside the Kazekage's Tower.

-vovovovov-

"Half of these conditions are unacceptable. There is no way Satozuki would agree to them. You may think you have a great deal of power, because your roots lie with the founding of Konohagakure, but outside of it, even in the Land of Fire itself, your family name is not going to inspire anything but caution. You will not cheat us of—"

"Listen, you pompous ass excuse of a waste of space," Hanabi snarls like a feral cat, and the _shinobi_ in the room stiffen with the amount of hatred she is projecting. Sasuke makes a note to have her work on that. He is not going to get compromised during a mission because the brat gets personal with something.

Hinata reaches out to hold her sister back, but looks half afraid to touch her, which everyone else can sort of understand. "Remember this, and remember it good. Just because you're about to marry into the family, it doesn't mean you're going to get off lightly fucking with us!"

"You're no more than fourteen, surely you can speak to your elders more respectfully than that."

"I'm a _ninja_. I only respect my betters. And the fuck makes you think we're cheating you of _anything_?" She draws in a breath, and reins in her volume if not her temper. "You know who you're marrying, right, dumbass? 'Cause she ain't anyone important. Ain't important enough to get more than a _genin_ team, ain't anyone important enough to be kidnapped, ransomed, held hostage or assassinated. You think her dowry is _so_ impressive that we can laugh away giving you more? The family has a set amount it contributes to every girl child born Hyuuga. Anything more than that comes from family who actually know her. Hers is dirt compared to mine, and I could die any fucking day. I think that says a lot about how Aiko falls in the ranks."

"I don't have to listen to this," he says impatiently, angry to hide how shaken he is, Hanabi thinks. "This union would be one of the few things in years that would help scrape Suna out of the economic ruin it's been in for years. You know I can't decline it, but I will not let you force me into an unfavorable marriage."

Hanabi rears back, like an animal about to strike. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?!"


	12. Insanity

It's my theme

12 insanity

* * *

_Hanabi rears back, like an animal about to strike. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?!"_

"You may be a more favored daughter than the bride I was offered, but don't you dare look down on me!" Sasuke can't believe that this prick is supposed to be older, and somehow more mature than him. He's in a screaming match with a twelve year old, _and_ he's supposed to get married? Temari is hiding her smiles with great difficulty, and has long since given up on her work, since there's no way she could carry a one right with this show. Gaara is watching the entire thing with interest, albeit completely composed and expressionless.

"Are you _fucking insane_?" she screeches, making all the men wince and finally snapping her sister out of the shock and annoyance the entire argument put her in. "You want livestock _and_ the land they live on, when the original agreement, which was supposed to be the be all and end all of negotiations, was the right to a fifth of the flock every spring. You think Aiko is the only girl of marriageable age we have?! Do you _know_ how many people are in the Hyuuga family? That pasture and at least six others at the edge of the Land of Fire are there specifically to supply bride prices. Other nations are either too damn wet or too fucking dry to raise most animals and you expect us to just _hand over_ one of our major holdings to some nobody in the fucking desert?! And you think _I'm_ looking down on _you_? I suppose next you want us to give you Orochimaru's personal rice paddies on a silver fucking platter."

"This madness stops right now." Hanabi wilts a little at the authoritative edge in her sister's voice. "With all due respect, Satozuki-san," everyone ignores Hanabi's comment on how little _that_ is, "if it had been anyone else here, presenting your revised contract would have caused the entire caravan to return to Konoha. It was in very poor taste to try and force your terms on us when Aiko had just arrived."

"You wouldn't have backed out of the marriage agreement," he declares, doubt lacing his confident claim.

"Fuck you," pipes up Hanabi. "It may look bad not to honor an agreement, and maybe it would affect future dealings, but guess what, jerkface? We, at least, would _have them_."

"Hanabi." The elder heiress gently but firmly forces her sister to sit down. "If you really can not accept this proposal, then we will leave and trouble the Kazekage," she nods apologetically, "to write an explanation, as a neutral third party witness, for why a precious Hyuuga daughter was rejected."

"No need for that," interrupts Temari. "She can stay here for a bit while your family draws up another marriage contract, only this time with a friend of mine's brother. Family is into making weapons. If it's cows you're talking about, then there's no way they'd refuse."

"The arrangement with Satozuki was for sheep, since they were more interested in wool than leather. However if they truly wish to end the engagement, I'm certain the family will not mind. At least Aiko wouldn't have gone through all that trouble for nothing."

"I'm pissed though," gripes Hanabi. "Do you _know_ how much work coming up with that was?" She points at the scroll in Satozuki's white-knuckled grip. "I woulda gotten at least three more hours sleep if we hadn't been writing and rewriting that thing, and for what? So we can give Aiko to someone else. God fuck."

"Where on earth did you learn that awful language?" Hinata inquires sharply.

Hanabi looks a little wary, but answers anyway. "Training ground 5?"

Hinata's mouth tightens and she looks disapprovingly over at Sasuke. Hanabi corrects her gleefully. "Oh it's not from Mr. Cranky Pants over there. If he ever says anything, it's under his breath or so only Uzumaki can hear it and curse him out some more."

Satozuki looks even more ill at ease since the Hyuuga representatives are so casually ignoring the marriage contract it took weeks for him to agree to, and even discussing another arrangement right in front of him. All notions of luxury and power are quickly slipping through his hands. Having the Hyuuga themselves solicit his family on behalf of their daughter had made him forget they were capable of changing their minds.

"Kazekage-sama," he tries, almost pitifully.


	13. Misfortune

No I make no sense. Yes I've been told that. OMG Olympic opening ceremony was WIN. WIN I TELL YOU. No I won't dumb anything down.

13 misfortune

* * *

Gaara has a disinterested look on his face.

"Nothing I need concern myself with. As long as the girl gets married, Konoha will be happy. As long as it's to someone here, Suna will be stronger. Only thing that might cause political tension will be what I say to the Hokage concerning the discipline of Konoha's _genin_."

Hanabi, very slowly and deliberately, turns to face the redhead, and equally carefully, proceeds to stick out her tongue, while somehow maintaining her Hyuuga aloofness.

Temari is snickering into her papers, and Hinata's head is buried in her hands. Sasuke has somehow inured himself to the brat and is more interested in watching the civilian squirm.

Hanabi nudges her sister and manages to communicate that their business is far from over. Hinata fixes her posture and glances at the very white Satozuki, thinking he must be very ill to be so pale with his tan.

"If the family you spoke of, Temari-san, is of good standing, then I would be happy to vouch for the engagement. I am now very hesitant to continue betrothal negotiations with the Satozuki family, for I fear the ill will born in today's meeting would manifest itself later. It is unfortunate, but I have no desire to put Aiko in a strained household, especially since she would have no idea why." She bows formally to the man who would have become part of her family. "My apologies, but you must understand there are expectations that always need to be met, no matter what the circumstance."

Temari shows the man out, not even bothering to hide her smirk. She pokes her head back in to ask if she should leave the Hyuuga entourage where they are. At the look of repressed horror on Hinata's face, she grins wider and says she'll stick them in the embassy's rooms straight away.

"I apologize again for the trouble, Kazekage-sama."

-vovovovov-

The brat is bitching something awful about her misfortune, swearing to convert to the fatalistic stagnation that let the deadlast moron kick the Hyuuga genius's ass. Her sister is not having any of it.

Naruto, surprisingly, is the one to shut her up. "You can stay here and wait for us to come back with the thing you have to sign, or you leave Hinata here, while Team 8 spends some quality time together going to Konoha, back here, and then to Konoha again."

Hanabi considers this for a minute. "You'll tell the Hokage it was your fault if I start a war?"

"You won't start a war," he says confidently.

"Yeah, I doubt the family would mind too much if Suna sent back your dead, _silent_ body," mutters Sasuke.

"Hey, I know the perfect thing to make people like you more, Sasu-pon. It's real easy. Open mouth, insert _katana_."

"Orochimaru was good with that," he informs her unnecessarily, unfazed by her attempt to make his name cute.

Naruto cackles. "Left him wide open for any number of latent homosexuality discussions back home," he jeers, grinning widely at Sasuke.

"This from the idiot with the necklace."

"Three goldmines and the mountains on top of them, asshat! 'Cause I'm—"

"So you have expensive taste in jewelry." Sasuke doesn't let him complete the declaration he won't admit he kind of missed hearing.

Naruto launches himself at his teammate, but gets a faceful of sand for his effort.

"Office," Gaara reminds them, sand receding back into its gourd now that Naruto is safely flat on the floor.

Hanabi looks at him in admiration. "Do that again!"

Naruto sputters, complaining about the sand up his nose and teammates who don't appreciate him and jerks whose lives he's saved who turn on him because of his awesomeness.

"Poor precious," sneers the smaller of said teammates. "Your life is just so full of hardship."

Hinata's nerves are in worse shape than she let on. She puts down her brush carefully, mindful of the wet black tip. She pushes back her chair and rises to her feet, a deadly slow grace, like a coiled serpent before the strike.

"Will all of you _please_ just leave?" Her voice is ragged; faded and torn compared to the silk power from before. She is holding too many futures here, with mere words and ink.

Hanabi only understands that diplomacy is to fight without blood for what she wants. She doesn't understand that one decision entangles more lives than she can imagine. She only knows how to look at what is before her, control what she can see. Politics is a matter of the ripples in the future, far away and distant; who can anticipate and direct those is dangerous and compelling and a master politician.


	14. Smile

No, I don't know what's my damage. It must be something impressive though. Half hearted attempt at staging the beginning of romantic interest here Must be this tall to snark.

14 smile

* * *

They leave with the ascent of dawn; there is no telling how the Satozuki family will react to this slight. They will not be able to hire Suna _shinobi;_ that much is certain. Team 8 has no intention of giving foreign _nin_ precious hours to gain ground. They face the rising sun and set out.

Even at the pace set by a _jounin_, they are barely at the edge of the Land of Wind. Hinata is in the worst condition. She insists it's because she lacks the legendary chakra reserves of her companions with light humor. They pretend to believe her, pretend they didn't see the dark smudges around her eyes even before there was daylight.

She cooks, even though she feels like her bones have turned to dust, her hands are steady. She keeps a smile on as she serves them, weak and watery as the tea in their cups. Sasuke has always been impatient. And his team is long familiar with his lack of finesse. Each moment that passes, with her denying exhaustion and stress, is like a personal insult to him.

"If you intend to keep pace with us tomorrow," he finally snaps, "go to sleep."

Hinata shrinks into herself a little, but lies down and tucks her pack under her head. Kakashi pats her shoulder apologetically.

"At least he explained," he tells her, like she should be glad for that little courtesy. She is used to taking orders with no details. As an important person in an influential house, she is very accustomed to submitting to those more powerful than she.

She wonders how Sasuke's eyes, flat and dark as they are, seem to say other things to her when he silently adds her sleeping aid to her teacup.

"Thank you," she whispers so only he hears, not sure why she wants to keep this small kindness to herself, like somehow Naruto and Kakashi are intrusions, when they are teammates and comrades.

He doesn't respond, but somehow she understands that he is not dismissing her, but taking it as a matter that shouldn't need thanks.

She drinks it all, knowing from the first sip that he gave her exactly as much as he should have. As her consciousness fades, she blearily wonders if it's the _sharingan_ or his own sharp spirit that allows him to see so many things.

She falls to slumber, a soft smile forming around her last silly girlish thought. _He really is… cool._

-vovovovov-

Sasuke heard somewhere that all girls are pretty when they smile. Hyuuga Hinata has just proven whoever the hell it was wrong. She's much better looking when she's doing her porcelain doll imitation; it's culture and dignity and elegance without being oppressive. When she smiles, like she's doing now, it looks like an afterthought pasted on by a child. It could be because she's sleeping the sleep of the doped and damn tired, but the silly little grin makes her look twelve and it takes a certain kind of twisted to go for that kind of shit.

He supposes a smile has its own uses as a weapon; anyone who has a nice smile either practices it in the mirror, or smiles way too damn much.

How the hell he managed to get on this vein of thought is beyond him, and he's making himself mildly ill. Thinking about women and smiles at the same time makes him sound like some moonstruck hormonal teenager, and if either of his team happens to catch him thinking his thoughts in the direction of the unconscious girl…

He turns his stare toward the teacup. Perfectly harmless inanimate object, one that might understand better than he the full depth of the Hyuuga's smile.

-vovovovov-

Hatake Kakashi, though he is forever trying very hard to ignore his self proclaimed rival, will admit that Gai's… flamboyant philosophy at least has the student-teacher relationship right. Knowing just one student is a complete failure is a greater sense of loss than anything else in the world. Kakashi is very glad Sasuke is sitting across from him now, because it means Sasuke's not a _complete_ failure as his student.

Sasuke, as if sensing the fond smile behind the mask, looks up to return his teacher's gaze. And that's when Kakashi realizes that unless Sasuke was expecting enemies (or Naruto) to erupt from the ground beneath them, Uchiha Sasuke was not paying attention. He looks for himself to see what was so fascinating, but it's only an empty teacup.

Kakashi thinks maybe they should have tried harder to bring him back from Orochimaru, because the last Uchiha is just a little odder than he was before.


	15. Silence

Snark!Hanabi makes her comeback I have too much fun with her, I can't help it. Well I could. I won't, but I could.

15 silence

* * *

He wonders if she's trying to sneak up on him, or if she's just naturally cautious about giving away her position in an unfamiliar area. She's mastered silence; it's not any noise she makes that gives her away. It's that her presence is changing the feel of the air whispering around them. Sasuke's gotten good at understanding nature; it's the only thing in his life he hasn't minded communicating with.

It all happens very suddenly.

The hare zigs, Hinata zags, and Sasuke tries to get the hell out of the way.

Her head is not very comfortable resting on his knee, but it's enough leverage to sit up and fling a volley sharp projectiles. They cover enough space that all the zigzagging in the world can't save the animal.

Hinata thanks him, and pushes off his legs. The _senbon_ pierced the weakest vertebra of its neck, killing it instantly. Hinata scoops it up, and collects his weapons for him.

"I thought girls didn't like killing fluffy things."

"Cute and expendable are not mutually exclusive." The tilt to her lips is almost grim. "I've long since accepted that the strong can and will prey on the weak." Her eyes cloud with memories. "I didn't know baby _nihonjika_ deer were what I enjoyed so much on my birthdays until I was ten. Nothing less than 'heavenly' fare for the daughter of the sun," she remarks, bittersweet. The expense is how she knew her value. She can't say she'd have rejected her father's generosity, even knowing the wonderful little fawns graced her table in dainty portions.

"So how would you like your kill cooked?" she asks, to break the quiet. She feels a little more vulnerable, telling Sasuke something so unnecessary.

* * *

Gaara wonders why he never appreciated the silent stillness being alone and ostracized afforded him. The fangirls were a new experience and sadly not options for disposal. The nobles were an unfortunate (for the most part), but unavoidable, part of his job. The _ninja_ at least remembered that he didn't have to compress them to make their lives utterly miserable and a good deal shorter. Hyuuga Hanabi was two of three, to some extent. Noble by blood if not bearing and a capable enough _kunoichi_, albeit one who clearly did not know what he was capable of. As evidenced by the cup of flour she 'misplaced' above the door to his office. If she respected him at all (which was becoming very doubtful) it was for some obscure reasoning that only made sense in her destructive little mind.

"That could be considered an attack on the _kage_ hosting you," Temari informs the shadow in the hallway.

"It could be," Hanabi allows. "But isn't it treason if you help me put it there?"

"Sisterly affection," corrects the blonde. "Have to keep my brother on his toes. It's not like he has time for training anymore. I bet his misses Baki's helldates of love."

"You don't train?" yelps Hanabi. "How the hell do you become Kazekage without… oh right." She thinks for a minute, and Gaara has the sinking suspicion that nothing short of killing her will work. Temari sees a kindred spirit, and the little sister she wished for when she was three, so she's no help at all. "So Naruto actually has a shot at becoming Hokage?"

Gaara doesn't hesitate. "Eventually."

"I only ask, because he ain't going to stop saying it until he does, or someone kills him. Just trying to get the figures on which'll happen first."

Temari sneezes, apparently having not realized that flour, when it hit any object, didn't stick completely, but dispersed into the air as well. Hanabi shoots her a look that is supposed to translate to 'You said flour. I had honey. Your own fault.'

"You really don't train?" the Hyuuga girl presses, like he might have lied to her.

"People tried to kill him every other day since he was four," points out Temari.

"And somehow this counts as training?" Hanabi asks in disbelief. She perks up with the realization. "So 'training' with you won't start a war, right?"

Gaara kind of misses fearful silence. This never would have happened if he'd managed to kill Naruto during the _chuunin_ exam. He may have to correct that oversight.

Temari is laughing too hard to offer comment.

Hanabi blinks innocently up at the two of them.

"I like you, little firecracker," Temari manages to get out. And bursts into more peals of laughter at the dubious look on her brother's face. "Oh come on, she grows on you."

"The same has been said of certain kinds of mold," Gaara reminds her in a cold voice only a _kage_ can manage.

Hanabi doesn't look the least bit insulted. "Well I wasn't _planning_ on taking over your house and giving you sinus infections or toxic poisoning and warping wood and weakening walls… but you just can't disappoint expectations." She gives him her most angelic grin.

Gaara is definitely missing the fearful silence.


	16. Questioning

I is a strange person. We can't blame my childhood. I think we should blame that whole segment of puberty and the aftershocks. I got weirder during college too. Blame teh roomie.

16 questioning

* * *

Hyuuga Hiashi is not pleased. That much is obvious. Team 8 had to help her report to the head of the family, because technically, Hinata was not on a mission. Once she finishes explaining, he gives himself three minutes to think through all the details, find the flaws and fine points in her decisions, and give criticism and praise where it is due. She can't put off being a leader.

He collects his thoughts and begins the questioning. Good instincts aside, in politics all actions must have a reason that at least sounds like a good one. And they must be ready at all times to account for one's decisions.

The family the Kazekage recommended is a good one. It was an oversight on his part to dismiss the boy as a candidate because he had failed to make _chuunin_. He chose continuing the family business over being _shinobi_, not shameful in the least, but…

Not all children get up when they fall to try again. He finds pride in his eldest daughter for her accomplishment. Sometimes he forgets the placement tests were specifically made more difficult than in his time. The hardship and frustration the examinees must go through are as much tests of loyalty and stability as the psychological assessment. A quick glance at the last Uchiha reminds him why.

"You cited Aiko's plight as your main reason for voiding the original contract. Her gratitude will not gain you anything."

"But to leave her might have cost us. And as I understand it, the Nakamura family has been considering their son's bride prospects for over a year now. A connection to the Hyuuga would certainly not be dismissed."

"Nor cheapened," comments Hiashi, almost to himself. "Especially not with the endorsement of the Kazekage himself. Hm. It's unusual to have the bride reach the family before the signed contracts, but if you are certain Nakamura will not break the agreement before it is even signed, and that the Kazekage will help you oversee the matter to completion—"

"The sister's involvement makes such a thing absolute, Hyuuga-sama," Kakashi interjects. "It was heard and witnessed by _ninja_ of both villages. Suna will help the Hyuuga complete the negotiations."

Hiashi gives the _jounin_ a piercing stare. Kakashi is not the least be uncomfortable. Finally, the Hyuuga head turns to his daughter. "Very well then, the contracts will be drawn up tonight, along with the statement that in this, the signatures of both my daughters will count as my signed approval. And in the morning, you will go back and prevent your sister from starting another war."

"With all enthusiasm, Hyuuga-sama."

"Of course, _chichiue_."

* * *

"But _how_ did you stop it?" she demands. "You were _surprised_ by it, I _saw_ your face. How the hell do you stop it a projectile _before_ you're aware of it?"

Temari's mouth is pinched in her attempts to keep her laughter to herself. Gaara can only wonder how well he holds up to torture, as it's never come up, but this might be a close approximation.

"Surely they have reflexes in Konohagakure," he tries, thinking the explanation might be only slightly more weighty than the juvenile bickering his siblings used to conduct. At least this one has more words than 'But why?' 'Because I said so.' 'But _why_?'.

"You react because you know something's wrong. If you don't know something's wrong until _after it bounces off your sand shield_, you can't call it reflexes."

"His chakra is infused in that sand, so he can make it do what he wants. I think, as a general rule, he wants not to be hit by flying _kunai_," offers up his sister. "Thanks, by the way, for angling them. You would be a little more dead if I had to drop this." She waves her half-eaten peach.

Hanabi shrugs carelessly. "There was a reason I was walking beside you. Other than the company."

-vovovovov-

Her twelve years seem so very different from his own; he can't help but tolerate her. It's curiosity and envy and an old fascination with reasonably stable children. And he kind of doubts any good aside from the immediate and obvious will come of burying her in an unused well.

Hanabi notices the Kazekage watching her closely; she resolves to include an explosion next time. But explosions are a bit more noticeable than making it look like the Kazekage is going grey and has a dandruff problem. She ponders the timing of it very carefully, and hopes it doesn't take too long, since her sister should be back soon.


	17. Blood

Just so we're clear on something. I have a hundred chapters to play within. The romance will come when it's ready to. Don't get your hose in a twist. I'll even write in the sex. Someone needs to get some to balance out my chronic virginity. And that was way too much information, wasn't it? Anyway. I got a friend who was pretty much bowled over in a rugby match. Jarred her heart pretty badly, making things like roller coasters a Very Bad Idea. Or so she said. I don't disbelieve her, so since I've never taken a _juken_ to the ribcage, I'm just going to borrow from Luna.

Blanket disclaimer no jutsu

17 blood

* * *

It's the thudding blow to her sternum that does the most damage. She can feel her heart falter, even though no one else will see it. This time, there's no chakra behind the strike to interrupt the fragile balance of her energies. Instead of impairing the chakra flow from her core, the force of it makes her ribs creak dangerously, pressing her lungs into her heart and she blacks out.

He shouldn't find it surprising word got out that the _byakugan_ was in the land between Suna and Konoha. Between the petty thieves and the whiny lordship, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what they're after. He'd been pretty damn sure to take care of all the bandits, he thought. It's almost dangerous now, since their pursuers are only interested in taking the precious _dojutsu_ for their own. They haven't researched anything, and Sasuke kind of wishes the girl weren't the heiress, just so when she finally kicked it, her eyes wouldn't be worth jack. He's never argued the claim that he's a bastard.

He catches her, because the shit would never end if they let someone make off with the heiress, _kusanagi_ sheathed behind him. He realizes he should have drawn it before, as the 'rescue' places him under attack from two fronts. He dodges the curved edge of a scythe only to take a clout to the face. For that, his _sharingan_ 'suggests', rather forcefully, that the unfortunate _ninja_ dodge to the left of Sasuke's _shuriken_, allowing the blade of the _chokuto_ to neatly take his head off.

He can taste blood in the back of his mouth, feels it dripping from the burst vessel into his throat. He glares at the girl, as if to inform her she had better be worth this, and disarms the woman with the scythe, who used the backlash motions of her attack to get the wooden end of her weapon through the infamous Hyuuga guard only minutes before. She's dead before her weapon hits the ground.

He can't feel a pulse fluttering against his bared skin, and he gets even more pissed off. She's slipping from injured to dying, and he can't even tell her off because she's unconscious. At least she's not bleeding on him.

-vovovovov-

He can do some basic healing; like hell anyone with a brain would trust Kabuto with their life. It's not much more than finding the problem and using chakra to fix it. This time all he needs to do is give her heart a gentle prodding with his own lightning chakra.

It's enough to get her heart beating right and he acted quick enough he doesn't have to worry about oxygen deprivation making her useless.

She comes to eventually, although she's a hairsbreadth away from falling over again when she notes hands not hers atop an indecent place that is most definitely her own, and she is reminded again that her home-life is repressed because she even thinks in euphemisms.

Sasuke doesn't give a fuck that he's groping her tits, and neither should she because they're on a fucking mission, and honestly, he's seen better.

How she's still alive is beyond her, there's so much blood rushing to her cheeks she doesn't think there's any reaching the rest of her and the world is going fuzzy around the edges. There's a glitter to his eyes, like cut obsidian, slicing into her and examining everything that she is with that one indifferent glance. To be exposed is to be vulnerable, and Hinata is trying not to be either. It helps that he stands and goes somewhere else, she doesn't know or care where; all she can concentrate on is breathing.

And after telling him he wouldn't have to save her… Hinata is not in the habit of being a liar. Hinata thinks she's been doing fairly well not needing rescuing or—

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan! Sasu-jerk is taking care of things. I saw that hit you took. Must have hurt, right?"

She nods slowly; her head is throbbing too much to do it any other way. "It was just… not a good place to take a hard blow."

Naruto looks a little confused for a minute, since she's not bleeding or nothing, but then he remembers. She doesn't want to think it's because she's on the ground looking helpless and half dead again, but not thinking it doesn't mean it's not true.

"Oh! S'where Neji got you, yeah? Shit, are you going to be okay?"

She's feeling marginally less like a corpse so she nods with a little more vigor and pulls herself up. Almost dying has never been a good enough reason for anything.


	18. Rainbow

18 rainbow

* * *

Kakashi is fine with stopping for a little while. Whether it's because he too remembers that day in the _chuunin_ tournament prelims or because he can feel the weather changing in one of his many injuries, she doesn't know.

They wait out the rain in a mostly deserted hamlet of a town. Too far from the desert, too far from the forest, the ground is loose and unstable. There is no bridal sedan this time, so they can afford delay.

It doesn't take very long, less than two cups of tea and one serving of _dango_. Naruto spots the rainbow first, and excitedly points it out to Hinata, presuming that as a girl, she will like it. Hinata stiffens but graciously agrees that it is a beautiful sight. She flicks a glance at Sasuke, who has been staring at his tea like it holds his next great technique, ignoring them all completely.

It can't be helped, she reminds herself, Naruto never had anyone to learn auspices from. How can she tell him rainbows are bad luck because they represent the Snake?

-vovovovov-

Children, Hanabi knew from experience, notice a lot. They took in her dark hair and pale skin and immediately knew she wasn't from around here. They set up a freaking _ambush_ when they figure out the adults won't punish them for bothering her.

"Tell us a story!" "Play with us!" "Show us what you Konoha _nin_ can do."

She opens her eyes, and there's a veritable mob of them. She probably shouldn't have picked a playground to meditate in. But it's so damn hot she can't eat during the day, and she sure as hell can't sleep either. She'd train, if there was someone around to train with. She never thought she'd be so annoyed with the sun.

"I could kill you all with my bare hands," she tells them, perfectly serious, and of course they don't believe her.

"Kazekage would get you first," asserts a little girl, probably well past the beginnings of a crush.

She hasn't mastered the sixty-four palms yet, and certainly not the _kaiten_, but even if she lacks speed, she has her precision. She can read the path of her blade before it leaves her hand, read the air and the metal and coax it to do exactly what she wants. So she breaks off pieces of her half eaten _manjuu_ and the crumbs get all fifteen of them between the eyes.

She shows them her palm, a chunk of bread resting above the _tenketsu_. She releases some chakra, enough to do a handstand on water. The bread jumps at least five _shaku_ into the air. It's too bright for her to watch its travel."

"I could kill you with my bare hands," she says firmly. "And I don't need my own personal sandbox to do it either," she mutters under her breath.

"You're a brat," Temari informs her, from somewhere behind her.

"A brat you're going to spar with?" asks Hanabi with interest. She glances up and sees Kankuro has her _manjuu_ speared on a puppet limb.

"Was. Not now. You have other enemies to face."

Hanabi's face sours, but she turns back to the children who are looking at her expectantly. "Why couldn't you people be xenophobic?"

A tiny little boy, clutching what looks like it's supposed to be a _tanuki_ almost as tall as him, has the audacity to take her lotus position as an open invitation and sits down on her left knee.

"Story," he demands imperiously. Hanabi looks at it in disbelief. She hears Temari fighting back laughter, a sound she's grown familiar with over the last few days, and she knows she's not going to get out of it.

"Alright fine. But just one."

Just one is more than enough and they settle about her like flies on a carcass. She can't think of any other image for it. She wrings her memory for a good story, and then gives up. If they want a good story, they can find a damn story-teller. She breathes in and begins.

"Before there was a world, there was nothing but the heaven above, and the sea below it. The great rulers brought the god Izanagi and the goddess Izanami into existence, and told them to go down and create the earth." She looks around, no one is bored yet.

"Izanagi took with him the heavenly spear, _Ame no nuboko_ and they traveled the length of the bridge between heaven and earth. Except there was no earth yet, so Izanagi stuck the spear into the waters and stirred them up. When he pulled it out, the water dripping from the blade fell and became the land, and the two gods made this island their home. The end. Now get off me."

"As I recall," rasps Kankuro, trying not to laugh at the completely enraptured children, "there was more to it than that."

"Then why don't _you_ tell it?" she snaps back. "And you can even throw in a puppet show."


	19. Grey

I hate tiny children. Okay, not true. I like 'em well enough when they aren't pissing me off. Sometimes I can keep them engaged enough to enjoy myself. Other times I wish we were allowed to give them what for with a nice old fashioned ferrule. Discipline has never hurt anyone. Much. In that 'if it doesn't, it hurts like a bitch and you either shape up or get the hell used to it' kind of way.

Also... I'm kind of sketchy on the politics I'm using. Canon doesn't really have a lot of it, so I don't know what kind of guy Gaara is in the bedroom. Boardroom. XD psychologist petticoat!

I'm informed that I should use 'ayah' and not 'amah'. I had an 'amah'. She was perfectly okay with being called 'amah'. The world is too frigging big to please everyone. If you keep trying not to step on anyone's toes, not only do you make very little progess forward, you fall flat on your nose.

19 grey

* * *

Hinata is barely five steps into the building when her firecracker of a sister goes off and lunges at her.

"Get me _out_ of here," she hisses.

"B-but we still have work to do!" protests Hinata. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"Your sister was kind enough to volunteer her baby sitting services." Gaara somehow manages to sound grateful and dignified, and _not_ amused as hell, which Hanabi _knows_ he is.

"Volunteer nothing, you stupid carrot fuzzbrain!" She directs a gimlet grey glare at him, ignoring the fact that her repartee is less than witty right now. "The stupid kids ambushed me first, and I'm starting to think it was _his_ idea. Can we just go?"

"We have to see Aiko safely wed, and act as _chichiue_'s proxy witnesses," Hinata explains soft-spoken but firm. "No, we can't go."

"Damn. Stupid Aiko and her stupid marriage."

"Speaking of marriage," begins the Kazekage, "I believe the children are awaiting the fate of Izanagi's attempts to retrieve his wife." Gaara looks complacently back into Hanabi's furious gaze. "They're very taken with you. Must be nice to relate to your audience on so many levels."

"Give me five years with them," she spits like a cat. "Suna'll need a new Kage."

"Hanabi-chan, don't threaten to depose the Kazekage when your proposed army is still teething." Kakashi gives her a one eyed grin that just makes her even madder.

She bows herself out. "Please excuse me. I'm off committing treason."

"Hinata, why don't you go make sure she keeps the corruption to a minimum?"

Hinata looks at the _jounin_ doubtfully, but decides not to argue. She disappears after her sister without a word.

-vovovovov-

"You ran into problems? Involving Hyuuga?"

"You might say that. Generally when one group of _shinobi_ intercept another, it's not a coincidence. Especially when they draw steel without asking questions."

"We don't know for certain what they were targetting," points out Sasuke blandly.

"That's kinda cuz you killed them all, Sasuke," Naruto reminds him.

"They were desperate, rogue _nin_ with no sense of unity despite attacking us together. It's the ones that didn't show their faces that worry me. They got some measure of us from watching, and are probably reporting even now to people with more brainpower and fewer morals than you." Sasuke pauses, as if for effect. "Dumbass."

"But you don't know they want the _byakugan_," Gaara clarifies.

"It's a reasonable assumption. It's possible they were after a delivery mission, but most _ninja_ teams, however sloppy, can at least get their target right. They were after one of us."

"No one sends idiots, even suicidal ones, after the Uchiha or a _bijuu_ or the infamous Copy _Nin_. They wanted the girl." Sasuke doesn't seem to care he's contradicting his first statement.

"How did they know she was there?" asks Gaara. "If you think this wasn't a random act of failed violence, you're going to need to prove that this is a threat, and that you have a reason for telling me. I'm not your Hokage."

"We're afraid the kid who got jilted might have something to do with it. Team 8 didn't leave survivors when it was attacked." Kakashi contrives to look sheepish. "His family has a trade line. Things got a little personal. It's not a hard stretch to make. We're not really expecting you to do anything, since there is no solid evidence—"

"What I can and can not do as Kazekage is _not_ a grey area. My village comes first. If you think you three are insufficient to protect the Hyuuga heiresses, you can pay for a _jounin_ or two."

"We don't have the resources to help you out of the goodness of our hearts," says Temari as she sweeps in. "It sucks, but it's true. You're going to have to scram now. Gaara has an appointment with the Elders."

-vovovovov-

"Don't know why you had to go and change it to Momotaro."

"The story of Izanami is hardly child appropriate," chides Hinata, forgetting that she was told the same stories when she was much younger, by a creaky wolf woman of an _ayah_.

"Pfft. Filial piety versus matrimonial discord of inhuman proportions. You're so boring."

"You didn't even want to entertain them."

"Even if I didn't want to, I did a better job of it than _you_. Yours was better suited for the littler ones," Hanabi concedes, "but these are all the kids of _shinobi_. Or at least they better be. If I've been brat-sitting for parents who aren't risking their lives for home and country, I will be less than pleased."

"There might be trouble on the way back," Hinata murmurs, out of the blue. "Probably trouble for us."

"Fantastic," grumbles Hanabi. "Least you can't blame me."


	20. Fortitude

Cap'n Jack Sparrow is sexy dirty pirate love. If he _did_ belong to me… well… um… pirate vs. ninja. I'm ALL for ninjas… but there's just some pirates that may actually tip the scale.

The Dread Pirate Roberts for one… even though I maintain that he is running around pretending to be a ninja. The Lady Ching Shih. Oh hell yes, she was a kick ass pirate. Research her. She's dead living proof anything a woman does is better than her male counterpart. You know it's a good life when the government has to bribe you into living peacefully in the countryside with all your ill gotten gains. And not just you. Your entire armada. The WHOLE Red Flag Fleet. That's like... how many thousands of men I can't remember, but there were a freaking lot of them.

Anyway. Quote/paraphrase from Pirate of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Totally Disney. I love Disney. Even though they bastardize everything they get their hands on. I mean everything. Still love 'em. I think… pretty sure.

20 fortitude

* * *

"Technically you're a civilian on this mission. Handmaid, remember?"

"Yes well… we will be here until the ceremonies are completed. Think you can handle a mass of children for that long?"

"Only if you help me with the _hakke rokujuyon shou_."

"Don't be ridiculous. Even if they are our allies, you are absolutely forbidden to practice the family techniques outside of our home, you _know_ that."

Hanabi wilts a little under the quiet force of her sister's authority. "Not even a teensy tiny clue to help me with the speed?"

"You could play tag with the midgets," suggests Naruto, who is a little disappointed neither of them is startled by his popping up.

"I could see how many holes I can put into you before you get away," she suggests back, a feral twist to her smile.

He gives them an impish grin. "I'm pretty resilient. Ask Sasu-jerk. It's harder than you think."

"But not that hard." Sasuke snags him by the knot of his _hitai ate_ and shoves the blonde's tanned face into the wall of a building. Unfortunately for Naruto, it's a wall that has been in the sun for a good six hours now, and despite his riotous flailing, he can't get out of Sasuke's hold.

"It's _hot_ dammit, let _go_," he yowls.

Hinata is next to them in a blink, one hand wrapped around Sasuke's wrist. He can feel her fingers curl a warning, and she could close off the chakra to his hand, though her fingers are no where close reaching all the way around; he knows the only way to break her hold requires he let go of the idiot to do it.

He's looking at her again, with that intensely dark gaze, and even though he releases Naruto's hair, he doesn't snap her fingers off, or even twist out of her grip. She drops her hand immediately when she realizes she still has his, lets his wrist slide out of her grasp like rain. Naruto is at Sasuke's throat in an instant.

"Ow! Dammit, you bastard, I'll kill you!"

Hanabi reaches into her weapons pouch and lobs a small canister of ointment at his head. He catches it easily, and turns to glare at her. Part of his face is _definitely_ redder than the rest and she bursts into helpless giggles.

"It'll help your skin. It won't do anything about your stupid though."

"I hate you all," he whines. "Except Hinata."

"Shame she's not in your league then." Hanabi snips right back. Her sister is still trying to come to terms with the fact that she just threatened Uchiha Sasuke and he was perfectly okay with it. As much okay as he might be with potentially losing use of his hand.

-vovovovov-

Aiko is feeling better. Enough to knock on their door and ask if Hanabi will stay for the wedding.

"Well duh," is as far as she gets before her cousin launches herself into the shared room, firing questions about what she'll be wearing and what she'd like to eat. Hanabi shoves her _hanafuda_ cards at her sister and tells her to make sure to kick the boy's asses for her. Hinata, who is carefully pressing the tiny desert bloom she received earlier, looks perplexed and asks why she doesn't just drop out of the game.

"Stakes are too high, you just have to win for me. Won't be difficult. Naruto has no memory for the _yaku_, _sensei_'s attention is half on his book, and the Uchiha has crap hands all the time. Come on."

Hinata lets herself be convinced, and primly takes her sister's spot. Hanabi drags her cousin to a far corner so they can make teenagers of themselves. Real ones.

"So how's being wifey?"

"I imagine it's a bit like being a _kunoichi_."

"Did they ask you if you had the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?"

"Um. In not so many words. I have to get used to running a shop. With weapons in it."

"Yeah I got that. Did you know they're taking our cows?"

"They're going to need tanners. Good ones."

"Yeah, since the heat would… you sound like you have someone in mind." Hanabi thinks about it for a minute and then pinches Aiko. "You want the cute apprentice at Hikaru-_oji_'s to do it. You're as good as a married woman, and you want some other guy thinking about you? Shameless hussy."

Aiko tries unsuccessfully through her giggling to convince Hanabi that really all she wanted was to help yet another business of the family. She knows Hanabi is already turning it over in her mind to tell her sister, but this could be the last time in a long time she has family to tease her.


	21. Vacation

Because I'm a po' grad student and don't have the money to throw at her, I'm dedicating this set to **bjorkubus** for being my pimp over at NF.

Cassandra Claire. She is win. Just so we're clear. I am indeed one of the people that firmly believes that, though I do allow she's done some less than legal things, so have I. Very Secret Diaries!!

21 vacation

* * *

"What exactly are the stakes?"

Kakashi turns a page in his book. "We were going to do sex favors, but then Hanabi threatened to do something very unsightly with firecrackers and Naruto's pants, so we decided on lunches."

Hinata blinks rapidly and says nothing at all.

"I was kidding, Hinata-san."

"Of course, _sensei_." She doesn't sound completely convinced, but then it's probably not an unusual threat for the girl to make.

-vovovovov-

She can't help but notice after five hands that Hanabi was right, and this team, for lack of a better phrase, absolutely sucks at this.

"Stop taking the damn crane."

Kakashi looks surprised. "But you can see I've got the—"

"No. You don't. You never do." Sasuke rubs at his temples as Hinata flips over the new card. "If I didn't know for a fact the Hyuuga wasn't cheating, I'd say she was peeking."

"We-we could play a different game," she offers timidly.

"But I think I'm starting to get the hang of this one," objects Naruto.

"Yes, let's not confuse Naruto. He doesn't do so well when he has to win by conventional means and following rules."

Naruto ignores his teacher in favor of trying to determine whether the new card is _sakura_ or _ume_. Eventually he notices the colors and figures out the _sakura_ have pink in them and the game goes on.

-vovovovov-

"Is this all we're going to do until after the wedding?" asks Naruto, doing mildly better know that he's got some idea of the worth of certain flowers.

"We're being paid to protect the blushing bride, and while we're at it, the other two lovely ladies."

"Yeah but who's going to attack them here?"

Kakashi doesn't know if he should find Naruto's faith in humanity and other people's fences touching or more cause for headache.

"This isn't a vacation, Naruto. We do our jobs whether there's a cause or not. Someone, in this case the Hyuuga, is paying for your time and skills. I'm sorry Hinata, I think we're cheating your family out of good money here."

"I would trust Naruto with my life," she murmurs softly. _I have before_, remains unspoken. "Just as I would trust you all," she adds, too sincere to be an afterthought, but still something she might have only just realized.

"Your life is about the only thing you _can_ trust him with," points out Sasuke to break the silence that is straddling awkward and sappy, blunt as a tree to the head. He throws down his last card and collects his capture. "_Nizoro_. I win."

Hinata look at his cards and spreads her own. "_Ino-shika-chou_. And _hanami ippai_."

She can't help but smile a little as Sasuke glares something awful at the brightly colored cards. It's a small margin of loss, but it's still a loss.

"Oi, Hyuuga. Don't deal him in. He's not even trying." He gestures at his teacher rudely.

"Oh Sasuke, even if he doesn't play, your luck will still blow," peeps Hanabi brightly as she ignores Aiko sneaking a few admiring glances at her _genin_ team. She will allow the guys aren't painful to look at, but she's twelve and an aloof, unavailable pixie of a princess.

And they're… annoying. Over-powered and arrogant, and she doesn't like how easily they can change the world. The blonde can do so much, even she knows it. More than the magnetic force of his personality, more than that unshakeable will, Naruto has this ability to make people believe he is _right_ and the world is _fair_ and everything will be okay, because he's going to be Hokage, and he's such an _idiot_ and even she knows it, but she's getting strung along just like her sister, only without the brain damage, and some day there will be more than a bridge named after him. The problem she has with Sasuke is that Naruto can and will bend heaven and earth for _him_.

She has to wonder if anyone else sees it. Aiko certainly doesn't. All Aiko sees is Naruto's smile and Sasuke's eyes and some kind of misconception that Hanabi is lucky to be a _ninja_.

Maybe her sister can see why these two are so dangerous. Shadowed by the forceful obviousness of their power, their attitude, their unbreakable bonds, is the fact that they're seventeen and boys, and therefore stupid, probably hormonal and unhygienic.

It's veiled by her modest demeanor, but her sister is an heiress and horribly kind and nice and soft and welcoming, and she's seventeen too, and people seem to forget these things so often.


	22. Mother Nature

Hi there! You're a cliché? Fantastic. Excuse me while I stick you with a pin, make some SERIOUS fun of you, ignore my oxymoronic nature and have Coke. Sans crack. I think. Pretty sure. 95 per cent confidence. See me statistician!

22 Mother Nature

* * *

Introspection sucks. Uchiha Sasuke knows himself and what he has to put up with well enough he doesn't need to take the time out of whatever it is he is doing to _think_ about it. But why he's bothering to 'guard' the Hyuuga princesses while they entertain children is something he hasn't quite figured out yet. The smaller one is animated, gesturing wildly as she tells them _Kachi kachi Yama_.

He wonders if the Kazekage knows the brat is endearing the future of his village to her, by telling them a story almost entirely consisting of pranks of varying villainy and destruction. From the captured _tanuki_ tricking the wife, then killing and cooking her to trick the husband, to the avenging rabbit and how he gets back at the malicious _tanuki_.

It is certain the girl's _sister_ has no idea what the hell is going on. _She's_ in a corner of the playground, drawing things in the sand. It doesn't escape his notice that the children with her are the ones who go home by themselves as the sun sets, who don't have parents that remind them it's almost supper, to thank her for watching them.

He wonders if a person like her ten years ago could have saved the world.

"That's her mother nature at work," comments the little one, who probably knows she's been spoiled all her life the way Hinata spoils these now. "I treat 'em like friends or brats or a chore. She treats 'em like children, but like they're important children. It's kind of sickening how good she is."

Sasuke might agree with her if he wasn't the kind of person that put a limit on how often he was agreeable. So all he does is give her the indifferent look, the one that is supposed to mean 'I could care less about your opinion' but it's always been translated to either mean 'I, Uchiha Sasuke, am giving you, fangirl X, some form of positive attention, this being the only way I can communicate my feelings, because you have not yet taught me how to love, so deal with it a little longer, and eventually I will ask you to bear my children' or 'Yes, please, tell me _all_ about how you're better than myself and all the ways you could have killed me while I was ignoring you'.

Hanabi takes it to mean 'Go somewhere else; I don't want to listen to you. I will even say please if it makes you move faster'. Of course, Hanabi, being a difficult person and quite contentedly so, stays and catalogues all the possible ways Sasuke staring at her sister can be used to make fun of him.

Sasuke thinks, not for the first time, he should talk more, or at least learn how to be more disdainfully expressive. Because being stoic is clearly no longer sufficient.

"Are you seriously interested in my sister? Or does she just happen to be where you're staring off into space? Going to marry her? Repopulate the Uchiha?"

"I think I would rather swallow glass than be related to you."

"But would you swallow glass _and_ be related to me to get in her bridal chamber? Because I know there are guys who would. And not just 'cuz her dowry is worth the nice half of the _daimyo_'s palace." Hanabi speaks with the frustrated acceptance born of being a younger sibling with functioning eyes.

"Hyuuga like you are why everyone is sure the main family has been screwing their cousins. I'm kind of surprised you aren't betrothed to your genius already."

"Ew. You are a sick freak and it's no wonder you've never gotten laid. Neji is my brother, creep, our fathers were one soul in two bodies, so watch what you say about my lineage or I _will_ figure out some way to maim you." She knows she hasn't thought about it a_ lot_, but she knows what's true and what should be true, and maybe Naru-dork is rubbing off on her, because damn if she isn't becoming an optimist.

Sasuke doesn't bother to correct her. The brat doesn't need to know a fucking thing about his sex life. Inhibitions are never something he's had to deal with. Nor were they very prevalent after he left Konoha.

Temari appears in whispering cloud of sand.

"Time to head inside, folks. Storm's coming, and while the walls will take the brunt of the force, the winds could lodge a grain of sand up your eyeball half way to your brain."

"Really?" asks Hanabi, like she might just move here just to have the weather.

"Probably not. But you never know. Now move it. Nature here takes the tough love approach."


	23. Cat

I feel like Hanabi might be snarking Gaara too much. But it's my Hanabi. And I think she makes it her business to tweak the nose of the highest authority she can find. Because I like my Firecracker. I do do GaaHana though. (see Descent into Rapture for the AU take on it.) Fufufu. Ninja!plug. Fail. NaruHana might be interesting too. It'd be like snuff porn, only it would be Naruto who died, and Hanabi probably wouldn't get off to it.

23 cat

* * *

She is stealthy like a cat bent on trouble. He could admit to being impressed, if only he weren't kind of annoyed she managed to slip past his awareness and into his office.

"So what's your favorite dish? Hopefully something local, because I don't think the Nakamura matriarch would spare any effort to please the Kazekage and it's kind of short notice and stormy to be importing things now. Aiko's afraid she's going to burst a blood vessel or something."

"What makes you think I'm going?"

"Don't they have manners in Suna?" she asks, an echo of an earlier jibe.

"Means I say 'no' three days in advance."

Her eyes narrow to slits, and it looks like she really might extend her claws and slice into him.

"If I steal your hat, will you go?"

"No," he says immediately, before something else occurs to him. "What hat?"

"Blue. White. Has _kaze_ on it. Figure you might miss it," she shrugs, perching on top of documents he is probably going to need in five minutes.

"Oh. No."

"But it's a wedding! A really big one. Political ties and all that. _I'm_ going to be there," she reminds him, like somehow that's a convincing argument.

"You have to be. My brother can represent me."

"You're leaving it to a proxy who will get drunk by the end of the second hour to represent you? You may as well leave the job to a half eaten rabbit carcass."

"Kankuro holds his liquor very, very well. And as I understand, weddings are events for celebration, not official business."

"Which is why you should go. You and Sasuke both, stick the size of Konoha up your—"

"What does it take to make you be silent?"

"Quiet fireworks are boring," she informs him demurely. "And I'm not boring. If I guess your favorite color will you come to the wedding? And tell me what you like to eat?"

"Do you promise to leave?" He wants to rub his temples and give her a not subtle hint to go somewhere else, but she is a surprisingly refreshing presence, so he doesn't actually have a headache to massage away.

"Sure. It won't kill me right?" Hanabi's eyes glimmer like water in the moonlight. Evil water. Evil water in plotting moonlight and mocking starshine.

"Pity about that."

Hanabi is amused rather than offended or alarmed by the implicit threat.

"I think… your favorite color is red."

"Why?"

She looks at him like he's an idiot. "Because—"

"My… fascination with blood was years ago." It's getting easier to think about, easier to remember and not feel guilty. He's learning, from Naruto, the people he meets, the people who rely on him, that people can change and that people _can_ accept that.

The girl's expression suggests she thinks he might not be qualified for the mental rigor being _kage_ entails.

"I was gonna say, in a town with very little actual color, it'd be stupid to wear so much of a color you don't like." She looks pointedly at his outer layer. "I don't _think_ it's that difficult to get sturdy material in other colors, but maybe you're importing from the wrong village."

She is a devious little witch, and he kind of wonders why there aren't children like her here.

"So am I right?" she prompts.

"Maybe," he answers vaguely.

"What the hell? What's your favorite color?"

"I don't have one."

The scroll that had been sitting innocently next to her knee bounces off the curved wave of sand.

"How the hell do you not have a favorite color? A color you like more than any other. Even my forever diplomat of a sister has a favorite color, and _she_ spent the first seven years of her life certain the other colors would get _offended_ if she actually said which color was her favorite."

"What's yours?" he asks, in a last ditch effort to keep her, if not silent, at a reasonable volume.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Gaara-tan." More people should play games with the Kazekage. He looks like he _really_ needs it. No one should take life that seriously all the time. You get people like her _chichiue_, who have wrinkles and grey hairs and look five years closer to dead when told what his daughter did in the Academy _today_. "Besides, I don't know yours, and fair's fair." She hops off his desk and pokes her head between the gap in the curtains to watch the storm.


	24. No Time

A wedding! I love weddings! Drinks all around. By the way. Canon makes things SO DAMN DIFFICULT. I do not know if I can have an electric kettle in the guest rooms for to make tea. They have outboard motors and radio necksets with surprising range, but they don't have ballpoint pens. Or do they? Who remembers what they were using during the _chuunin_ exam? Not me! All I know was that it wasn't calligraphy brushes.

24 no time

* * *

Hinata wakes before the first rays of the sun warm the air. The storm that passed scoured everything, polishing furiously like Keiko-obaasan in one of her moods. She looks fretfully at her _kimono_ and sighs. She crosses her fingers and brings her hands up. She shouldn't know how to do the _kage bunshin_ technique, but she inevitably picked it up from watching Naruto and other _jounin_.

He wakes up because there's another presence of chakra in the room. It's familiar so he lets his muscles relax marginally. He looks around and sees the Hyuuga heiress helping herself into a _furisode_ covered in blooming irises. It looks old, the sleeves are too long, the purple is faded and both pairs of hands treat it with a reverence he might have known once, had he been able to keep anything of his father's without feeling nauseous.

She's out the door before the chakra from her clone completely dissipates and he knows she's going to be fucking hot in that thing if she's going to wear it all day.

It's too late to go back to sleep now that he's fully conscious.

-vovovovov-

Hanabi's _kimono_ is waiting for her. It's a beautiful thing of gold silk and embroidered peonies. The trouble is it's heavy and stiff and kind of freaking hot. She won't wear it until the sun goes down, but it will be crowded, and people will be drunk, and the brilliant colors of it stand out against the muted earth tones around her that she won't be able to slip away easily.

She doesn't envy Aiko, who would be in one of the underground lakes about now, being primped and fussed over. She'll have no time to herself today, and Hanabi doesn't know what kind of man the groom is. Hinata might though. She dressed early and went to greet the family formally. Hanabi remembers being half asleep when Hinata came back looking put out, asking Sasuke who was awake and drinking tea if he would mind very much helping her with something since the Hyuuga retainers Aiko brought with her were making preparations.

She didn't hear him refuse before falling back asleep.

-vovovovov-

Sasuke didn't think one little favor would involve so much fucking effort. The hell was she giving the family as a wedding present, rocks?

She greets Aiko's new mother-in-law, bending until her eyes have a clear view of her toes.

"It's very little compared to the honor your son is giving the family, but please accept this gift."

He wonders how often he has seen her exposed like this. One bows before someone else to present their unguarded neck in a show of trust or submission, and the girl either trusts too easily or has no self-worth. But this is no time to think about her naïveté and how everything that she is demands protection.

The queen of the Nakamura household doesn't even bother returning the bow before undoing the cord binding the sack.

White crystals glitter like treasure in the sunlight. Hinata is still staring at the ground, displaying no discomfort at all despite the heat. The older woman reaches out and dips a finger into the fine snowy grains. She touches it to her tongue and her eyes widen. She hastily closes the bag, like leaving it open will make it disappear.

Hinata finally straightens.

"There are two more. The family retainers know where they are. I do not wish to make Uchiha-dono carry any more today."

She bows herself out and finds a convenient wall to rest her forehead on. She won't ruin her mother's favorite _furisode_. She hopes no stray grains have migrated on to her, as even refined salt will discolor silk.

"They do get salt here."

"Yes, but it's usually coarse sea salt. And it is costly, even then, to get it so far inland. The Hyuuga own a vein of mineral deposits. Military power isn't the only way to gain allies, Sasuke-san."

She's so tired, and she's not sure why, since she hasn't done anything more strenuous than endure an hour in full _kimono_.

-vovovovov-

She barely remembers the ceremony, blurry faces blending into each other. She's not sure she even wrote her name right on the official documents, not sure if she really did see her little sister _poking_ the Kazekage like an elevator button, couldn't say she didn't actually fall asleep when everyone was cheering for the newlyweds to kiss.

She certainly doesn't remember Hanabi making faces at Sasuke, or him 'escorting' her back early, or pushing him away so she could fold her mother's _furisode_ all by herself.

* * *

How many people thought the gift was actually crack? Because I totally didn't do it on purpose. Really. Sweet Briar women do not lie, cheat, steal or violate others. The rights of others, that is. Um… Anyway. Moving on.


	25. Trouble Lurking

I HATE Numerical Analysis. I just thought I'd say that right now. Stupid necessary math, but not really, course. Moving on. Fic!

Miss 'one time, at band camp' can use her flute for any number of things, so why begrudge me an assumption on what the Grass guys can do? Not like we seen a passel of them around doing badass grassy deeds. Ohmigawd, I flashbacked. God help me, but I flashbacked, and to POKEMON. I don't know how many of y'all did the original pokemon run, and WHY is this giving me the 'correct' spelling for "Pokémon"?

Anyway, as it was released international-like, there was a soundtrack, and on that soundtrack was a song, and in the song were some FANTASTICALLY cracked out lyrics. "Good luck with Muk and its poison gas/ Make one wrong move and it'll kick yo' grass". I still find it fsking hilarious. And not just because Muk… well… not so much capable of the kicking thing.

Holy crap, I am made of fail.

25 trouble lurking

* * *

The Suna medic said it would cure itself, no disease or poison, just her body trying to reconcile too many things at once. Hanabi said something dry about her health and her personality being entirely too similar, and allowed Naruto to pick up her precious sister.

She was floating in some hazy semblance of consciousness, trusting _nin_, endurance, to hold her through this as well.

She's functional enough by the next morning to insist on their departure. She dodges all three attacks with fluid grace, determined to prove to skeptical eyes that she is _not_ helpless. Her sister still looks doubtful, but takes her _kunai_ back silently.

He should have known fate hated him enough that there was trouble lurking, waiting for _the_ most inconvenient time to strike.

-vovovovov-

Hanabi stops them by trying to take out Naruto's head with her foot.

"Hold up," she snarls, planting her feet on the solid trunk of tree. She looks around, sharp little movements and sighs. "The moon's broken," she informs them with no small annoyance.

And it is. It hangs in the sky, as dim as it was when the sun was out and yellow as aged paper, and Sasuke thinks that with two _nin_ possessing the _sharingan_ present, the team is highly unlikely to fall prey to an illusion.

He has noticed the elder heiress sneezing her eyes out for the past five minutes, and he nearly falls when he comes to the realization.

He closes his eyes and isolates his senses. He breathes in and _tastes_, lets every nuance drift into him; tree sap, crushed leaves, far away townsmoke, and there, an unfamiliar sweet shadow, heavy, sticky, death.

"Fucking Grass _nin_," he snarls.

"Wha?" Naruto is incapable of making the mental leap, which shouldn't surprise any one.

"Drugs and an illusion. Can't believe the half dead princess noticed it first." He ignores her feeble protests about being dull enough to only think it was allergies. She spends too much time being humble, in his opinion.

They break the _genjutsu_, and are relieved to find they haven't deviated horribly from where they are supposed to be going. They can recover time, but it will require them to push harder, and Hinata is still trying to burn away what afflicts her.

"We haven't lost ground, but we have given them a chance to prepare for us." Kakashi looks and sounds solemn. "We're going to go with the assumption that they _are_ after the Hyuuga. Hanabi, keep close to me. We take point."

-vovovovov-

Even though they are expecting the surprise, it still comes too sudden to counter fully. He lets Naruto's _kage bunshin_ do their thing, taking hits and _kunai_ and where five poof out of existence ten more appear, Sakura once called it self-perpetuating canon fodder, since the clones never manage to land a blow that matters, and really all they are good for is pissing everyone off.

Whoever the fuck these guys are, it's pretty clear they're better at this than the ones before. The go almost immediately to separate the girl, who is the easiest target even with her sister half unconscious, because her twelve-year-old-girl attack range _sucks_, and Kakashi either trusts them to take care of each other, like he did five years and forever ago, or he's getting fucking old, and dammit she's getting _herded_; unless she loses a foot at the ankle, there is nothing she can do about it.

-vovovovov-

Hanabi is even less pleased than Sasuke to know what's going on, because it means the situation is more than a little dangerous and she's _hoping_ she can take care of the guy with the chain soon, because the faster he and his freaky bladed spinny thing are gone, the faster she's not cornered all by herself, easy pickings for someone _else_.

And it doesn't help that her being in a bad situation makes Hinata do something stupid like try to help, crossing _three_ battles to put herself in direct way of her sister's opponents, and some how manage to succeed at it despite almost tripping on something sharp and kind of lethal several times.

Hinata knows Hanabi doesn't have the experience to fight well against weapons she's not familiar with, and this modified _shoge_ is definitely in the category of 'things to keep away from'.


	26. Tears

So I have most of this little arc written. And can I just say? I have AMAZING timing. I am like SO DAMN COOL. These themes? Easy, peasy, bullet to the kneesy. No I've never played Resident Evil, what are you talking about? :cough: I haven't! I just watched Berkie's boytoy go at it like he wasn't getting any and had to make up for it somehow. Because he wasn't and so I guess he did. Whedon moment! The Bible. Somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.

26 tears

* * *

She can feel the skin of her palm blister with how much chakra she is forcing out of it, but even that is barely enough. She feels the blade shoving against her, trying to dig past the cushion of chakra and remove her fingers. She pushes it away as hard as she can, sending it into a tree and pressing the small opening into a victory. She hates that she can kill with 'surgical precision' because isn't that supposed to preserve life, not cut it off ruthlessly quick?

She doesn't realize Hanabi isn't here until after she loses her last _senbon_ to someone's eye. A frantic scan reveals she has somehow been forced away from her team again, and more _shinobi_ are converging on her. The sight of her sister on one knee, hand bright with chakra, driving her final blade into the tree behind her tears a cry of horror from her throat, and she doesn't even realize her legs are moving, eyes fixed on the people _taking her sister from her_, palms and fingers are slick with blood, but even so she can pull out yet another _kunai_ and wield it with a steady hand and all that matters is getting to Hanabi who is farther and farther away, as she has been all her life, and she can't do _anything_ about it.

She gets to the tree and finds Hanabi's last stand is a bloody _hitai ate_, pinned to the wood with a finely crafted _kunai_ that only a wealthy _shinobi_ family could afford to throw away at every turn. Her vision swims in tears and crimson waves, so much so she can't even tell what village it's from, or maybe that's because there are streaks of red all over it where the black line of steel isn't tearing metal.

-vovovovov-

She doesn't see the rest of Team 8 arrive, the most important member is gone, stolen, and it doesn't matter that she's wide open and vulnerable, because suddenly she knows what the desire to kill feels like, and it's not bloodlust or inhuman rage, it's a gaping hole in her existence that burns away at everything she's ever told herself she could be. She _can't_ protect, she _can't_ be strong, she shouldn't be a _kunoichi_, she shouldn't be a sister, she shouldn't be allowed to exist.

The only thing that will make it better is her Hanabi, her firecracker, her bratty miracle of a sister, and while she's at it, all of their lives ended by her hand and this is hatred and it hurts but losing Hanabi hurts more and being a _ninja_ means enduring, so she'll do just that. She's not the first.

She meets Sasuke's eyes and somehow she sees a flicker of understanding in his flat black gaze and she notices for the first time that Kakashi has summoned his pack of dogs, and that's Hanabi's hair in his hands, dull with blood, a terrible tangle torn from her head.

Hinata faints.

Sasuke thinks he's been spending entirely too much time catching her.

-vovovovov-

Hanabi is in pain. A whole hell of a lot of it, so much so she's not even sure which parts hurt more. Her body is a mess of shallow cuts and bruises, wounds from _odashi_, _hanbo_ and other people's feet. The hurting doesn't affect her hearing, except for the stuttering hum inside her head that she thinks might be from the blood in her ear.

Still, she can hear them talking, all their strongmen were taken down, apparently it was Hinata that kicked half of their collective asses, and she's unreasonably proud her half dead sister princess did so well, although the being kidnapped and tied up and unable to get rid of the buzzing noise is kind of a damper.

She shifts a little, to maybe shake the blood out of her auditory canal or something, and the wall discovers the part of her scalp that's missing and she lets out an undignified yelp. If she weren't closer to half dead than Hinata, she would be taking care of these guys, because they were the 'fetch' part of the mission, not the 'reduce all _ninja_ you can into pulpy blood but keep the Hyuuga alive until we figure out the best way to be stealing other clan secrets'. Which totally means they pretty much suck at being _ninja._

She wonders if they're stupid enough to believe she needs to be healed because she might die of blood loss while she's in this box, carriage, _thing_. She needs to be optimistic, and sarcastic, because she may just die of boredom or shame or anxiety or sheer utter _frustration_ if she doesn't think uncharitable thoughts.


	27. Foreign

Did I mention it will involve politics? And cross dressing? Which are only sometimes distinct things.

Oh and math is eating my brain yet again, so if I don't make any sense... think about the cross dressing!

27 foreign

* * *

"Don't think about her."

She stares at him in horror.

"Don't think about her," he repeats, like he knows all about this, and he kind of does but that's not a comforting thought and the almost _empathetic_ look on his face doesn't help either. "Think about how you're going to fix this."

"Yeah! Don't worry, Hinata, she'll be back and being a pain in the ass in no time. She's a strong _kunoichi_."

She looks at Naruto, realizing, not for the first time, that sometimes the things that come out of his mouth are exactly what he shouldn't say but she needs to hear. There's blood smeared on his cheek, where he wiped away someone's last breath to end another.

She pushes herself up and staggers away from them, leaning on tree trunks for support. She notes there's blood under her fingernails. In a relatively dark and private spot she collapses to her knees and retches, the tang of stomach acid a sour counterpoint to the metallic taint.

She can feel him watching her, and she wonders if it will always be this hard to be able to relate to Uchiha Sasuke.

-vovovovov-

"What if we can't get her out before they hide themselves away in a _shinobi_ village?"

"There's this." She jerks the forehead protector, rent where Hanabi jammed it into a tree with a _kunai_ and her family technique. She wonders if her sister did it on purpose, gutting the foreign symbol like Sachiko-obasan was teaching her to gut fish, straight down the middle, no hesitation, just something that needs to be done.

"But they had the symbols of several villages. We can't—"

"Yes," she interrupts, "I can." She takes a steadying breath and turns the marble weight of her gaze on Naruto. "The Hyuuga _can_ pressure them, we can threaten them, and we can do it without any objections. This is politics. Telling the truth won't save Hanabi."

Naruto is struck dumb. Sasuke wonders if he knew this was part of being an important person. The truth is a powerful weapon, but half truths and veiled meanings are more convincing.

"If that happens, we have to keep them off balance. They _must_ believe Hanabi will be a worthwhile bargaining chip. They _can't_ kill her. They must also believe there is nothing special about her, that the threat of war is mostly a gesture to appease the Hyuuga pride. I… I don't think Hanabi would ever recover herself if they took the _byakugan_ from her. Being a good _ninja_ is everything to her."

Sasuke sits back and glowers at her. "You really think we won't be able to drag their asses out?"

Hinata blinks away the thoughts spiraling into despair. She gives him a smile full of gratitude and warmth. "I'm sorry. I forgot. You're Team 8."

Pak-kun appears as if at some unseen cue.

"They've stopped at a middle sized town almost on top of the border between Grass and Rain. Little witch put up enough of a fight that they need to recover before trying to transport her any farther or something. Problem is: it's wealthy enough that they employ a good number of strong _shinobi_ of both nations. Seems like a lot of court officials live there when they're not making nice with their respective _daimyo_."

"The Land of Fire is on shaky peace with both countries. We can't risk starting a war without giving the Hokage _some_ prior notice. She has a mean right hook."

"All that means is pulling this off without being recognized as Konoha _nin_." Hinata pulls her icy demeanor closer about her.

"You sound like you already have a plan." Kakashi doesn't sound upset or angry in the least.

"I'm told I can play the _shamisen_ rather well. A _goze_ is hardly a threatening presence."

"A blind musician. But that's just you."

"I wasn't aware you were going to risk Hokage-sama's fist." She realizes, distantly, that's she's being horrible and mean and cold but she _has_ to, otherwise she'll start to break, and she'll cry or scream or hate herself until there's nothing left of her.

Sasuke leans into her personal space, and this is not the time to notice he smells like faraway bonfires and cedar trees struck by lightning. "Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than trash."

"We have a little while before we need that plan," Kakashi soothes, ignoring the almost palpable tension. "A major village, even if it's not a _shinobi_ village, will have holdings around it where security is much more lax." His one eye seems to hold secrets and stories that are so very profound. "Endure a little while longer."


	28. Sorrow

Not _exactly_ a cliffhanger. I haven't actually done a _real_ cliffie since… um….

Can you tell I don't have a beta?

28 sorrow

* * *

She pushes everything to the back of her mind, her anger, her sorrow, her bonds. All she needs now is her cunning. A _kunoichi_ relies more on her mind than any other part of her. Even apart, even vulnerable, they both have their pride as Hyuuga _ninja_.

"I know how we might get through." Strangely, she doesn't seem extremely proud of herself for it.

"How's that?" asks Kakashi kindly.

"The same way we went to Suna."

Naruto puzzles this out loud. "We went with Aiko and them. You mean we pull them out of their happy home just so… Oh!"

Sasuke doesn't need to explain the look on his face, but just in case Naruto misses it, "Dumbass," he says succinctly.

Naruto ignores him in favor of praising Hinata.

"B-but it's not that good. Since there are _ninja_ in there. We can't… can't use _henge_."

"Not close to that place we can't. But in the outskirts… I'm sure we can fool someone into lending us a bridal palanquin. And if we make our 'accident' muddy enough, a nice wedding _kimono_." Kakashi might be having too much fun for this problem.

"A wig," whispers Hinata.

"Why? Your hair is plenty long."

Hinata shakes her head. "I-I have to be the handmaid. Naruto's _bunshin_ can carry the sedan, but I don't think he knows how to be a noblewoman."

Two heads whip around to Sasuke, who is not so much scowling as trying to ignite all three of them on fire through willpower alone.

"Awww," Naruto snickers like this is the best thing to happen to him since the invention of ramen, despite the only other teammate who might appreciate this being the one in trouble if not outright danger, he can still find it in him to laugh. He has no doubt they'll have the brat safe within the day. Or something. "Sasuke's gonna be a pretty princess."

Hinata nods wistfully. "He's perfect… for the part," she adds hastily. "You carry yourself well, just take smaller steps." She reaches up before she can help herself. "Even if you didn't hide your face, you'd be the envy of the village." Her fingers trace the line of his cheekbone. "A little make up, soften that, make it more feminine. If we ignored your eyes," a feat she seems incapable of doing at the moment, "you could be my cousin Hitomi."

"Is this going to be a problem for the village, though?"

"Nah, we were on politically neutral land. Even if they like the grass _nin_ better than us, they can't technically take a side in this."

"They're just going to make this as difficult as fucking possible," Sasuke reminds them dourly.

"They tried to kill us first!" argues Naruto, who still has a sense of justice, naïve though it is.

"And the fact that they failed miserably isn't going to endear anyone around here to us. So. Now what?" Sasuke is positive his teacher is entirely too enthusiastic about this plan.

-vovovovov-

There's some kind of seal on her, she's not entirely sure because she can't move her limbs more than two inches. They don't feed her, just give her water and pills, which she supposes makes sense, since they only need her alive, not healthy, but the pills are very boring.

She can hear and smell what's outside the room she's stuck in; it doesn't seem to be a shack on the ass end of nowhere, so she's holding hope that she'll be getting a sneaky type rescue sometime soon. The only thing she'll have to be sorry about is missing the whole show. Anyone who has to do all this just to keep one little _genin_ girl in place can't be worth what they're getting paid.

She's been tidied some, her hair has been cleaned and combed, and the woman was nice enough to mind the scabbing patch of skin behind her ear. It's really too bad they have the discipline to ignore her when she talks. Otherwise she'd absolutely be trying to convince them they've made a hugely critical, possibly life threatening mistake. She spent the first half hour of her captivity perfecting it.

Whatever the hell these guys know about Konoha and Hyuuga, it's probably wrong. She was totally prepared to tell them that the Hyuuga family had a huge farm of kids that were sealed and had their hair dyed purple and their left eyebrow pierced because the _byakugan_ manifested in _them_ and anyone who didn't have that evidence was trained from an early age to be a duck tamer.

It probably wouldn't have worked, but she would have been entertained for a little while.


	29. Happiness

Bloke in a dress!! Bloke in a dress! :cough: And that was your Eddie moment for the day. Because how long has it been since I referenced Eddie in one of these? However long it was… it was too much.

29 happiness

* * *

If it isn't for Kakashi and Hinata checking and re-checking that no one in this little collection of huts is trying to kill them, Sasuke would say the plan is going too well. Hinata assured everyone that all Sasuke had to do was sit very still and nod slowly, no need to speak or interact, only to look dignified. She and Naruto had run the two _ri_ from their chosen spot to the village and by the time they brought back 'help', Sasuke was sufficiently bedraggled and Kakashi managed to keep all trace of amusement out of this voice.

The old woman does have her daughter-in-law's carriage still, dusty and faded. Even after a good cleaning, it is still a shadow of its former gilded splendor. She tells the _jounin_ outright to cast his magic on it, since no well bred girl, especially the pretty one bathing in her house, would step foot in it the way it is now.

Naruto has been busy too, telling everyone who will listen how bandits accosted them, and how he, marvelous and dashing as he was, had rescued the fair lady. He tells them how he'd thrown off two attackers, and then caught sight of his charge, in the hands of the dirty brute, with deeds in mind more awful than hacking off her hair.

It takes him a while, but eventually some old man tells him his daughter's husband is a hairdresser in town, and Naruto doesn't need to feign his joy. The man is lucky his health has been good all his life, because the blond _shinobi_ has a hug like a bear. He's better off than the young woman who shyly offers the wedding _kimono_ she wore just last year.

-vovovovov-

Hinata has her 'mistress' in a hot tub of water, blaming the steam for her red face.

"How on earth did you get so dirty?"

"Saying I was shoved to the floor wouldn't be right. The bastard tried to trample me when I was there. Spouting some shit about making it realistic. Like I wasn't going to use an illusion anyway."

"Oh," is all Hinata can think of saying. She buries her hands deeper into his hair and tugs her fingers out gently, freeing tangles and clods of dirt.

"How many of those bruises were real?" she asks softly, thinking she might be enjoying this too much considering _why_ she has to do it.

"Enough." He raises his voice just a little, and does a decent imitation of Aiko. "I think waiting outside while a woman is bathing is beyond the call of duty, _shinobi_-sama."

There's a muffled laugh and then silence. Hinata peeks out and finds a thick robe and some other… props. She stifles a giggle of her own and collects them up.

He ignores how the spidery play of her fingers over his chest as she adjusts the padding makes him feel, and tried to relax his expression into something ladylike.

The brushes she's holding have barely visible tips, and he hopes she won't stab an eye out or anything. He learns she's actually pretty good at it, considering she should have maids doing all of it for her.

"I had to do it myself," she tells him. "It's too easy to send a girl in with contact poison instead of cosmetics."

She changes the arch of his brow with a smooth stroke, pulling away as if burned when he flinches.

"Are you alright?" she asks, almost distraught by the thought that she might have hurt him.

"It feels weird," is his short but childish answer.

"Weird like what?" she asks, hand poised to do the other.

He catches her hand and runs the tip of his tongue up the shallow valley in her wrist. "Weird like that," he informs her.

She looks at the brush in her hand, bristles slick with paint, then at the moist streak, and turns the color of a plum.

She manages, after a few minutes, in which Sasuke looked bored and she tried to keep her heart from stopping again this week, to finish painting the face of a bride.

-vovovovov-

Hanabi doesn't know exactly how long it's been since she was knocked out, kidnapped and put in storage, but it hasn't been that long. She knows because no one wasted chakra healing her bruises and the smallest, shallowest one she can see without craning her neck hasn't turned yellow yet. She knows her sister is coming for her. Hinata is determined and strong like that. Always has been.

It's harder to catch the spider and get it out the window safely than it is to just throw a book at it. Hinata has been rescuing spiders her way for years.

At least Hanabi will be going out the window quite happily.


	30. Under the Rain

Lol, well it didn't take too long for it to degenerate outside the realm of canon, did it now? Oh well. There are only like five people reading this anyway. XP

Clearly, I suck. :Edit: Thought I should mention taking the name Sachiko from the fem!Sasuke on the LJ Naruko RP. :heart: Mina!

30 under the rain

* * *

They are able to get in under the rain _nin_'s noses. They all acknowledge it was probably Hinata's doing. Naruto tells her she's got probably the best puppy dog face in the world. Better'n Akamaru's, that's for sure.

Sasuke knows better.

"_Please let us stay, at least for three nights. We can't continue like this. All we need is to wait for her dowry to be replaced." Hinata brings her hands up in a gesture of pleading. The collar she covertly loosened while pretending to ask if Sasuke needed anything shifts to display a glimpse of pale skin. Hinata keeps her lashes lowered through the entire exchange so only the faintest sliver of violet peers up at the suddenly uncomfortable man._

The credit for lodging, however, even Hinata has to smile a little, is all Sasuke's. When the innkeeper's wife hears about their plight, she insists that they stay with her for however long they need to. She says she appreciates a girl who suffers through and still looks like she's ready to get married. Naruto mutters something about that being Sasuke's 'going to kill a bunch of people' look and how he wouldn't share _that_ bed, even though he picked out Sasuke's rack.

Sasuke can't respond, since she practically shoves a light dress at him, declaring 'Sachiko' shouldn't stay in those horribly stiff robes for longer than she needs to. Hinata takes the yellow _yukata_ without betraying her smile, and patters off in Sasuke's less than happy wake.

Their hostess yells after them to join her for dinner straight after.

Kakashi whaps Naruto on the head for inspecting Sasuke's cleavage.

"Don't stare," remarks Kakashi mildly. "She's going to be married soon."

She allows the menfolk to go find their own supper outside her hearth, since Kakashi was hinting heavily that they wanted _sake_ with their meal, pleased they trust their charge alone with her for a few hours.

Sasuke eats silently, taking just enough to look grateful for hospitality, and not so much that it's 'unladylike'. Hinata smiles approvingly at him. He doesn't tell her it's from watching her. She seems to remember suddenly the paintbrush incident, probably because it's either watching her or the chicken that dries his mouth and he ends up licking his lips in a manner he thinks might be disturbingly reminiscent of Orochimaru.

The woman ignores Hinata grandly, too taken with the fresh young bride. Hinata doesn't mind, since the grandmother, and she _is_ a grandmother despite her lively enthusiasm and relatively smooth skin, of many boys and girls as she tells them, is trying to make Sachiko blush.

She asks about the husband to be, if she's met him, if he's handsome, if he looks like the kind who wouldn't mind his wife on top of him.

She tells them about Second Daughter (and how _she_ was conceived) and how her courtesan friend's advice had given her five children before the mother-in-law died.

"Lie with him often," she laughs like falling leaves, "give him sons and treat them right. Sons are how you keep power in your home. Although giving head works well too."

Sasuke finally looks away. She assumes Sachiko has finally been overcome by her shyness, and apologizes for her crude country manners.

Sasuke doesn't think he can keep watching Hinata with a straight face. He gets sent off to bed with a final pat on the arm, and one last gem of advice.

"You'll be lucky if your man knows how to use his tongue. First thing to do is get it out of his mouth. Maybe those fancy lacy things girl _ninja_ wear are good, but a man with taste can see the beauty under a loose _juban_. _Juban_'s easier to get out of than those weird contraptions anyway."

Hinata's face could set the whole house alight, but Sasuke has the patience to wait for her to calm down and turn in for bed before saying anything.

"You'll pick a sexy _juban_ for me, right?"

She sits straight up, flushing, but her brain isn't the puddle of shock and embarrassment it was earlier.

"She's from the country," she informs him tartly, not sure why he can get away with teasing, nor why she's playing along. "Proper _kimono_ have another layer underneath the _nagajuban_. Know at least the _hadajuban _and _susuyoke _go on before anything else. Do not shame your family with ignorance."

"What about shaming yours?" he asks, quick and hot and thoughtless.

She flushes deeper and lies down with her back to him, a clear indication he shouldn't say another word tonight. Eventually, the light echo of her voice reaches his ear.

"Neji wouldn't have you. Too tall."


	31. Flowers

Data book Hiden: Sha no Sho scanlations FTW! Stole a puppy name from it. Just so we're clear. Not that, you know, any one ever reads the notes unless I **bold** something, but hey, details.

31 flowers

* * *

She might be broken. She's kept the same position in the same spot for at least two days now. That shouldn't be humanly possible right? Being Hyuuga may be more than being human, but she's Hanabi, and she's more than just Hyuuga, so those rules don't apply. She's volatile and bright, dazzling petals burning the fabric of the sky, and _this_, sitting, stagnating, suffering, stuck, this _is not her_.

Maybe she's broken. Maybe she's breaking. Maybe every passing second is putting another crack in her. Maybe she'll be dead before they get the chance to kill her.

But Hinata is definitely coming. It's got to be the stupid boys that are holding her sister back.

Hanabi doesn't even notice she's already accepted that her teammates are at least not _worse_ than trash. It's probable that if they fuck this up, she will change her mind.

-vovovovov-

Urushi likes her. She scratches behind his ears just right, and he doesn't mind taking off his jacket to help her find her sister. Sasuke decides to go with her, less for her protection, and more for his sanity. Hinata at least, doesn't snicker when he stops himself from tripping on his stupid clothes.

The dog leads them into a florist's and finds a wall in his way. Hinata bends over a bucket of chrysanthemums murmuring praise for the beautiful flowers and the wedding and other trivialities while she activates her _kekkai genkai_.

There's a hideous number of seals embedded in the walls. This time, it wasn't a stupid oversight to have two _byakugan_ users on the same mission. One room is sealed, practically caked with ink, the fifty five tags are explosives, set to destroy the three neighboring buildings as well, should anything set them off. She looks into the room quickly and fights back a gasp.

Sasuke coughs as delicately as he can to cover up her horrified inhalation. Even the most annoying staff isn't on the brink of tears deciding cosmos or peonies.

Urushi is kind enough to paw at her ankle, so she can kneel down and pet him and no one but the dog will see how she hates. And surely Urushi can not fault her for it.

-vovovovov-

There isn't really a plan, just a concerted idea of what needs to be done, and some vague ideas of how to do it. The building behind the florist's isn't that well protected, presumably because Team 8 landed most of them in a hospital, if not an early grave. It's almost too much to let such a flimsy barrier stand between her and her sister. She could so easily get rid of it, if she just let go of the hesitant part of her that's scolding her for such destructive thoughts.

So what if there're other people, if this is enemy territory, if she shatters what tenuous peace two countries have? That's her _sister_ in there, silent and still and so slight. It's her sister and it's not, because Hanabi would never be so quiet and well behaved and it's with a relief so great it makes Uchiha Sasuke seem like the light of a dying firefly that she lets the first one grab her arm. Roughly; she wonders if Hanabi will have a mirror set of bruises. Blood blooms out of his chest when she drives her blade him, a terrible red fountain that she steps around lightly, tucking her hands, and the one tell-tale spot of blood, into her sleeve.

She doesn't know why men always attempt to detain and question first, when killing is much easier. You can't seduce them all, every _kunoichi_ knows this; the idea of the bell curve suggests at least half of the _shinobi_ population shouldn't be that easy, and a girl should always be ready to make the switch from seductress to slayer. No man is wary enough of woman to last as long as they do.

Now she is free to read the seals on the room, as the rest of her sister's team should take care of any other problems. She takes her time, tracing the paths and following the lines until she finally reverse-engineers the key to the lock. The seal is the only thing that might have been considered a challenge. Once she deactivates it, the door, with its rusted hinges and primitive lock, swings open with a shuddering creak.


	32. Night

Sadako? Not mine either, and I am _damned_ grateful for it. I have enough issues coming up with the kind of horror people expect. That sort of freaky shit is so beyond my capabilities. Urr... I feel like I should say something about how Fabula Rasa is coming along... but I really don't feel like it. Yus, romance is becoming slightly more... there? I've been doing TOO MUCH MATH. Geh. Worse'n abusing other substances. People ENCOURAGE you to do more math. Not so many pushers around here.

32 night

* * *

Hanabi looks up, forcing her head to turn toward the door.

"What took you so damn long?" she whispers, voice cracking from disuse and tears of relief she knows she shouldn't have, because of _course_ they were going to get her, and even if they didn't, Hinata would find a way, because she's Hanabi's sister, and Hanabi is just plain awesome, so of course her elder sister is fantabulous in uncountably many ways.

Hinata is next to her in half a second flat, dispelling the binding _jutsu_, checking for injuries, apologizing like it was all her fault. Hanabi pushes Hinata away with her regained freedom and takes the opportunity to stand up, crack her shoulders and scratch her ear because the ends of her hair wouldn't stop tickling it. Even that much effort is almost too much, and she staggers against the wall.

Hinata finds a way to pick her up, despite being barely a head taller. Hanabi thinks, even though this is a fucking odd time to be thinking but she can blame shock or something, that when she grows up, she's going to be hella taller than her sister at this rate. And skinnier. Konohamaru said she looked like she would crawl out of a TV and kill people once. She proved she could, if she wanted to, kill him without the TV bit.

Hanabi doesn't even realize when she passes out. Hinata tucks her closer and hopes the chill of night air won't prey on Hanabi's already weakened body.

She doesn't notice Sasuke until he tries to take Hanabi from her, and he just barely blocks the strike aimed to render his arm numb for a week. She doesn't even apologize for her mistake, but she does allow him to take her treasured sister into his arms. She knows Hanabi will be safer there, and it doesn't hurt as much as it should to know there will always be someone better than her at protecting her precious things. Maybe it's because it's Sasuke, but she doesn't mind at all.

-vovovovov-

It was a waste of fucking time. Three elite _shinobi;_ one stressed, paranoid, overprotective _kunoichi_ and possibly one of the stupidest missions since delivering mail. Get in, kill as many people as necessary to get the girl, get out, go home and try to avoid unnecessary questions on the way. Sasuke thinks that with all the shit he's put up with these past days, the actual execution of the rescue should have been a hell of a lot more difficult and definitely more satisfying. But no. All he has is a complete team again, one which is interesting granted, but still annoying.

He sneaks into their room, and waits the ten heartbeats for the elder heiress to slip in through the balcony. Naruto and Kakashi must still be cleaning up. He lets Hinata fuss over her sister, neither really registering the return of the others.

Hinata is awake all night, just watching her sister sleep, and Sasuke doesn't want to think about why he knows she never lay down, because it would mean admitting he was awake all night too, watching her.

-vovovovov-

Naruto brings up breakfast, grumbling under his breath about everyone telling to be _careful_ with the tray, like he's some kind of klutz while still being a _ninja_ and what the hell is wrong with having a personality as well as being essentially a human tool?

Hanabi decides she doesn't need to hear him whine as he puts it down and goes back for the rest. She tries to throw her pillow at him but fails miserably. It lands a bare three feet from her knee. She scowls at it and Naruto threatens not to feed her if she doesn't behave, and this time the pillow smacks him directly in the face.

"Shut up, _dobe_."

"Aww, did I interrupt your beauty sleep, Sachiko?"

Naruto cackles and manages to escape before Sasuke throws something slightly more lethal than a flat pillow.

Hanabi is staring at him. He looks out the window, determined not to explain why he has a girl's name.

"So unless last night was a complete drug trip and I'm still under… you really are wearing a woman's _kimono_."

Sasuke fights the urge to curse. He must have been some kind of off balance to have forgotten he was using his 'feminine wiles' to get through a door not twelve hours ago.

"Question!" she pipes. "Did you know green makes you look like a shrubbery with piss poor attitude?"

Hinata's timely arrival prevents Sasuke from murdering the rescuee.


	33. Expectations

Stupid test. There's only a little something wrong when the class average for 50 people is 59. Just saying.

Ino and Hinata would make freaking cute candystripers.

And people blow fire. Surely they can make flat grills that are movable.

Since we're covering any and all discrepancies and questionable material, before you even read it… oh look, a bunny with a pancake on its head. I so ship ShikaIno. Because fourteen year old Temari would not fall for some cranky little twelve year old, I don't care what you say. Also, the saving his sorry butt bit would basically place him below her on the badass ranking, and no guy wants to be less cool than his girlfriend. Fact of fucking life, get over it. And Shika equals chauvinistic prick of the nth water.

33 expectations

* * *

Now that she's been cleared from needing hospital recuperation, she takes every opportunity she can to pester him about the _kimono_. It's unfortunate that they're teammates, since this provides a great many such opportunities. She's not the only one taking advantage of them. After Naruto's seventh comment about his girlish figure, he's about ready to pack up his weapons and go the hell home. The other heiress arrives before he can implement his escape.

Hinata somehow managed to convince Kakashi and her father that Hanabi's condition is such that she shouldn't be training for more than three hours a day, since her body was on the verge of breaking itself down to keep her alive, and whatever they had been 'feeding' her wasn't nearly enough and probably enervating and cheap and barely more than compressed sugar.

Team 8 decide to go into town for lunch on Hinata, at her insistence, since she needs to monitor Hanabi's meal anyway. They find Team Asuma, who don't need to be a _genin_ cell to be a team, 'discussing' where to go for lunch. Ino cuts herself off upon seeing them and Shikamaru rolls his eyes in disgust as she prepares to attack. Surprising them all except Hinata, who has grown used to it, Ino doesn't latch onto Sasuke, but the Hyuuga heiress.

"How was your mission?" she chirps excitedly. "It's been _so_ boring without you. Because of Tsunade and Sakura, we have more medic _nin_ than orderlies, and apparently taking pills and pie to sick people is _below_ them and we need either new blood, or Naruto and his bloody _tajuu kage bunshin_, because there are _too many _guys who think that just 'cause they've gotten battle scars, I will go out with them, and oh hey, were you going to lunch? If you were, we'll just go with you. You can't complain now right, Shikamaru?"

"Woman, it's not where we eat that's the issue; it's the fact that you expect _me_ to pay for you."

"A girl should never pay for her own things unless she's alone," Ino breezes. "Besides, you think all I eat is carrot sticks, so what's your problem?"

"Damn expensive rabbit food, Yamanaka," retorts Konoha's leading strategic mind.

Hanabi tugs on Ino's hair before the older _kunoichi_ starts up again. "You had better let go of her, or you're going to need even more balloon delivery girls for the hospital."

The blonde loosens her hold on the slightly blue Hinata. "So where were you going for lunch? Meeting expectations and hitting Ichiraku?"

"Hell no," says Hanabi fervently. "I'm the one injured, my family is footing the bill, we're getting _okonomiyaki_."

"We'd love for you to join us," Hinata murmurs, speaking for Team 8, and making several very _wrong_ assumptions in the process, in Sasuke's opinion. Years ago the girl was terminally shy and barely coherent, and now she's making decisions and bullshitting for other people and hell if it isn't clan leader practice.

-vovovovov-

This is a mistake and it seems like he's the only one who knows it. The booths seat four, and in the scuffle of pushing two together for the eight of them, he can either sit between Akimichi and the grills or take his chances being called Sachiko at every turn. He values his limbs more than his dignity and takes his seat between heiresses.

Ino is bitching about grabby bastards, and Chouji and Shikamaru are trying not to look like they might bend their morals about hurting hospital patients just a little bit. Hinata tries to soothe her before her friends go and massacre the occupants of room 312 while they wait for the hotplates to heat up.

"Well what did you expect?" asks Hanabi. "You volunteer at a hospital where half the patients have seen what you wear to work, and the other half think you only do it because you're looking for a boyfriend."

Ino gives her a look. "Have you _seen_ what Anko wears? Or not seen, as the case actually is. She's just damn sadistic, and not likely to ever set foot in a hospital unless heavily medicated and close to dying. And I can't threaten them with my teammates, I'm scarier than these two combined," she says blithely as she starts making Chouji and Shikamaru's _okonomiyaki_, exactly the way they like it. Hinata looks disinclined to agree with that assessment, but she doesn't say anything.

Hanabi is looking at her sister expectantly, because Hinata can cook, and Hanabi doesn't think even the _sharingan_ could copy whatever the hell it is that makes her food so good.


	34. Stars

can has brain damage? Oh. Too late.

34 stars

* * *

Both Hyuuga see when Ino starts to turn on the charm, eyes sparkling like stars, lips forming a damp pink pout. Hinata snags the bill and hastily goes to the counter to pay before the other _kunoichi_ can start her pleading whine. From the looks Sasuke has been throwing at her all during lunch, he hasn't quite forgiven her for the aural damage from years ago.

Hanabi wants to know how Ino put up with two boys, _genin_, fresh and untried with attitude and ego to spare. Ino laughs like summer and rustles something about ambition and friendship and dying being too troublesome.

"So then how come _he,_" Hanabi makes her opinion of Shikamaru clear, "made _chuunin_ first?"

"He was the only member of team 10 to actually go into the official tournament part of the exam. I only really remember two things from it. First was that his entrance _sucked_. So not dynamic. The other thing is that his passion drives him, and despite appearances, he's passionate about what he does."

"Which lately consists of getting you to shut up, and avoiding Hokage-sama's paperwork," mutters the _chuunin_ in question.

Ino whirls on him. "If you don't want to do all that _troublesome_ paperwork, you could take up some _real_ responsibility and go on missions with us again." Her expression turns into something Hanabi doesn't know how to translate. "It's not the same having you tell us the best plan a week in advance."

Chouji silences her with a quelling look. "Stop trying to guilt trip him. You _know_ why he doesn't come on missions with us."

Ino huffs impatiently. "Just because _we_ don't screw around and end up _needing_ to redo the original strategy—" she catches her teammates' glare and subsides again. "He was our genius first," she mumbles petulantly. "They had no business breaking up the perfect team."

"You know," begins Naruto, who does still spend time with the friends he has slaving away in the Hokage's office. "They've started calling Nara over here the Princess, because he's always locked up in the Tower, being exploited and whatever."

Shikamaru groans and buries his head in his arms. "Fuck politics," he says succinctly.

Hanabi looks over Team Asuma critically, thinking. "Our cell is mainly for hitting things. I'll probably never see them again once we get promoted," she reflects dreamily.

"I can only hope," mutters Sasuke darkly.

"The stars say don't count on it." Kakashi finally emerges from the excitingly engaging chapter five to offer comment. "Thank you for the meal, Hinata."

"It was my pleasure," she replies with a formal warmth that hasn't gotten stale yet. "Thank you for the company. Hanabi and I should go." She ignores her sister's growl with cool serenity.

"Don't you have _chuunin_-y things to be doing?" gripes the smaller heiress, less than pleased to be treated like baggage.

"We're not at liberty to discuss that," Ino singsongs. "G_enin_," she adds for good measure.

Hanabi glares pain and suffering and asks with poisonous sweetness when Ino is going to find a real boyfriend.

"When someone finally passes the test," she returns blithely. "I just can't go out with anyone my team doesn't approve first. You'll see."

Hanabi looks doubtfully at her cell and wonders if Ino has somehow become stupider during her mission.

Ino catches it and the sapphire of her eyes sobers till it's almost grey. "You'll see," she says again. "They know you when you're at your worst, covered in blood, afraid, tired, trying so hard when it's not enough." She looks up and her smile is almost painfully dazzling. "Have to make sure they realize that info comes with serious responsibility, so no blackmail or anything."

She ignores the scornful noise behind her and the sound of another bag of chips being opened. Sooner or later they'll get a clue on the mystery that is woman, but for now, they're her boys, her team, her friends. And even Sakura's Team 7 has nothing on this. Hanabi might do better though. Hanabi is a _ninja_ before she is a girl, and that was something Ino and Sakura had never bothered with, because at twelve, being a girl gets you more than being a _kunoichi_.

Sasuke and Naruto are _ninja_ before even being alive. She's seen the psych profiles. They'd probably go into comas or completely fucking _insane_ if they didn't have something to fight for. Naruto at least, has that stupidly ridiculous and totally unlikely dream to chase. Sasuke doesn't have anything but the few moments in his life that didn't suck so much.


	35. Hold My Hand

It was about time for some random, mostly pointless, but fantastic for making crap up, festival. With fireworks and annoying people and plot holes! In which I switch points of view like MAD.

35 hold my hand

* * *

Clearly, the Hyuuga spend far too much fucking time spinning and not enough time watching where the hell they put their feet. Or maybe it's just the heiresses and their stupid tiny girlish ankles that are the real issue.

They left lunch yesterday and apparently the younger convinced the elder to model the _kaiten_ and the other had the complete lapse in fucking judgment to do it and now she's hiding a limp inside her sock while the midget tries to impart upon the idiot the absolute awesomeness of her family.

She shouldn't be walking around, pointless celebration or not. The Hokage doesn't want a reminder she's older, though it is an occasion to drink herself into a stupor on someone else's tab. The presents from the other villages not wanting to piss off the home of the last Uchiha and the _kyuubi_ are probably part of it too. Sasuke is more than a little glad his home creeps the hell out of pretty much anyone, since it means no one asks if he can put them up for the week.

The brat needs more training if she can't even tell the cadence of her sister's quiet steps is not right. But she's hiding something behind her boasting. Naruto has already decided not to push her on it.

-vovovovov-

There were Grass nobles in her mother's garden. She would have taken the rare opportunity of privacy and open air to tend to her ankle. The scent of crushed comfrey would cling to her, mark her weakness, or poor taste in perfume, so she greeted them with all the genteel cordiality she could and walked with them to the _koi_ ponds.

Her grandfather is horribly out of line. Hinata is not generally an impatient person, but sometimes even she kind of wishes he would just give up and go hopelessly senile in his own quarters. She has known for years now he would abandon his own son for honor and selfishness and stupid, stupid pride. But to take advantage of the foreign envoys being in their home…

She is going to need another notebook. The Hyuuga needs a great deal of changing.

-vovovovov-

_Chiuchiue _was about to burst a vessel, she's pretty sure. Stupid _jiji_ was practically auctioning her off during dinner last night. The fussy noblewives found her delightfully charming until she prettily professed to wanting a _kusarigama_ for her next birthday. Hinata noticed, and asked with concerned confusion when she stopped wanting a _katana_.

Stupid cows left her alone after that. Her grandfather looked like he might skin her alive for it, and the clan's Head was torn between amusement that the venerable Hyuuga Elder had his plans foiled by his precociously poisonous second daughter, and the usual migraine that accompanied her in his thoughts. But it's still a little worrisome that her father was more surprised, alarmed is really what he was, over her method for dealing with this matchmaking ploy. She wonders if she should be concerned he knew about it before last night.

-vovovovov-

Walking in _geta_ requires a degree of control to begin with if one has no intention of clacking like a weaver's shuttle. It makes hiding the difficulty in her steps easier, but it still hurts.

She shouldn't have carried the clay vase of _awamori_ to the _godaime _herself, but everyone else had seemed so absorbed in the festival she hadn't wanted to trouble them. And she resolved not to bother Sasuke ever again.

-vovovovov-

Some idiot tried a _suiton_ move in the middle of the fucking street. Now there's mud and bitchy people, and the princess is going to snap that joint if she hikes up her _yukata_ and tries to pick her way through that mess. He shouldn't fucking care what she does, but he's pretty damn sure if she does break something, he's going to be the one carrying her, so it's really more of a preventative measure.

She stares up at him in helpless bewilderment. Her eyes fall back down to his outstretched fingers.

"Hyuuga, there's no way I'm going to _ask_ you to hold my hand." _So do it _before_ I tell you to._

Hesitantly, she slips her hand into his. His grip tightens around her fingers and when she presses weight off her foot and into him, he doesn't so much as blink.

"Thank you," she whispers, not daring to meet his eyes. The world blurs around them, muted chaos, and he pulls her forward, with an almost inaudible 'tch'.


	36. Precious Treasure

In honor of my missing Sep 23... I shall now try to stick Ino in as many of these as I can. Because I suck. But you like it. I think.

36 precious treasure

* * *

Ino is laughing, because the girl scaling Chouji's head is small and adorable and Asuma's, and she loves her for being cute and cheerful and clumsy, she loves her for more than being her teacher's living legacy. Although it figures that the miniature brunette scrambles off and hits the ground running when she sees who just turned the corner.

"Blondes never win," she pouts, even though Shikamaru is the only one who can hear her.

-

Sarutobi Chiyoko adores Hyuuga Hinata as a sister, and Hyuuga Hanabi as a partner in crime. Hanabi spent a week going through all the old closets for all the clothes she could, because if Hinata was Kurenai's kinda-daughter, then Chiyoko was Hanabi's kinda-little-sister, and Hanabi had always wanted a doll for herself.

Hinata was grateful for the excuse to keep visiting her _sensei_. Team 10 and Team 8 often met up for lunch before making their way over to Kurenai's apartment.

-

It's no surprise now the three year old girl has adopted a huge family for herself. Konohamaru was pissed for a little while that his cousin liked Hanabi more. Hanabi gave him her patented look of superiority and resumed showing Chiyoko how to clip the little plastic poppies in her hair. He took it out on her during physical training class. Well… he tried to. It's not her fault the _only_ thing he knew how to do was imitate Naruto's ridiculous excuse for a _henge_.

-

Hanabi, like Chiyoko, is a child, and as such, a precious treasure to protect. They skip in the street, toddler and almost-teenager, the beaded ornaments in their hair glimmer and dance like fireflies.

Hanabi doesn't notice until she turns around that her sister is holding hands, with _Sasuke_ of all the people in the world. Her expression goes blank, and then she is doing her level best to impress in Chi-chan's little mind that boys are icky awful things, that need to be avoided at all costs, because they make you go stupid like Ino-nee.

Ino is about to take offense at that, but her eyes light on joined hands and her expression changes too, and then she is coiled around Hinata's other arm purring nonsense about springtime and youth and some girls having _all_ the luck.

-vovovovov-

Sasuke has long mastered ignoring idiot babble.

-

Ino, light as she is, is unexpected weight on her ankle. Hinata represses the urge to wince, but she can't stop her fingers digging deep into Sasuke's palm. She throws him a desperately apologetic glance as she tries to pry her friend off.

-

Somehow not being on the receiving end of Ino's affection, watching the terminally reserved Hyuuga heiress suffering through the world's blondest barnacle, it's funny. An honest to god grin manages to worm its way onto his face, and both _kunoichi_ are mildly entranced by the sight. The realization makes him quickly school his expression into one of his usual disdain.

-vovovovov-

Hinata unconsciously cradles the image to her, because if Sasuke is handsome when he's being a jerk; he's absolutely breathtaking when he smiles. She might understand now why he was so easy to fall in love with.

The thought that she might bring such a gloriously human expression to his face would make any girl go through hell and back to try. But hell hurts too much, and one smile is not worth blood and sweat and tears and shattered fragments of hopes and dreams and moments of time from memories beyond recall. She knows.

She's seventeen, had a first love, lost it but got back the part of herself that was most afraid of disappointing him. Having a man touch your heart _hurts;_ more than life and death it's pain and helplessness and she's _not_ helpless.

Having to sleep three feet away from him would have been _very_ difficult five years ago.

It's probably the healthiest thing she's done, given her current lifestyle, falling out of love with Naruto. Every grin that made her heart skip a beat was a threat to her, and she'd like to think she's smart, not suicidal or masochistic.

He's still in love with Sakura, and she's actually alright with the idea. He deserves love, she wants it for him. And she's not so selfless a person that her own pain, virtuous and self-sacrificing as it is, can satisfy her.

Not falling in love with Uchiha Sasuke is imperative.

Her treacherous mind sees him again, amusement tugging his lips into a sensuous prideful curve, warming the ice in his eyes.

Not falling in love with Uchiha Sasuke is going to be very difficult.


	37. Eyes

Dear school,

SUCK. ME.

xox

clockwork

p.s. I don't get paid enough to deal with this. Please either make your cafeteria cheaper or give me more moneys.

Had no interest in going with that whole black/white eyes thing. Is more than a little trite. The usual disclaimers apply.

37 eyes

* * *

The top is supposed to bring out the emerald in jaded eyes, the skirt to lend a curvier figure to her lean body, because don't you know scars, as well as stripes, are slimming. The shoes are heeled, her nails are painted almost painfully pink, and it's not because she's probably saved their lives that guys are looking at her appreciatively tonight.

Tsunade-sama insisted she take the day off. Because anyone with the balls to get injured on the Hokage's birthday could afford to lose the limb. She's glad for the respite, god knows she hasn't had a good break in weeks, but with celebration rampant in the streets, there's no real way she can rest, so she may as well see if she can't get someone to buy her drinks, meet a few friends along the way, pretend to be a teenage girl for once.

Even Ino, who doesn't date so much as selectively flirt, hasn't seen much of a social life, not when she's volunteering at the hospital as much as she does.

They might be too cold, too old, to be best friends any more, because they all have their secrets, their weakness, a numbing distance that makes it impossible to trust _everything_ to another person anymore; people die, they get captured, broken, they lose faith or they lose their mind, and there's a totally other level of belief in the boys that have saved your life more times than you can remember, because you've saved each other more times than you can count, that being friends when you were five just can't touch.

Still, they're pretty girls in a man's world, and some things need a woman's heart, and a woman's matching weakness, to understand. Hinata has an unusual penchant for orange, even though she only looks, never buys. Sakura keeps her hair short, uses the same shampoo she did when she was twelve. Ino takes all her breaks, and some unscheduled ones, because the lounge smells like stale cigarette smoke and too much takeout food, not despite it.

-

Two steps after she rounds the corner she has an armful of Ino, and an earful about how she _finally_ doesn't smell like disinfectant and Tsunade needs to get soap that doesn't totally suck the moisture out of everything. She good-naturedly threatens to rip out every lock of hair on her friend's pretty blonde head if she doesn't get off right now, and Ino would _love_ to see you try, although since your forehead takes up most of the view, it'd be pretty boring, billboard brow.

They laugh and link arms, and it feels like it's been forever since she's been this relaxed. Ino thinks they should take Hanabi and Chiyoko to get candy. Sakura's first thought is that Chiyoko doesn't need candy; the second is that if they're thinking of the same Hanabi, _she_ most certainly does not need candy either. Her gaze falls on the Hanabi helping Chiyoko gain the altitude necessary to make Shikamaru's hair pretty, and as she laughs her eyes take in Sasuke, Hinata, joined hands and less bad mood than usual, and suddenly the laughter sticks in her throat. Sasuke seems to catch the second she stops, because all he does is tug Hinata forward.

"Sakura. A word."

She'd give him that and more, a lot more than just one, but she settles for a stiff nod, and a promise to teach Chiyo-koneko to catch fish later.

-

She walks beside them, almost an intrusion, as Sasuke leads them into the shadows of an alleyway, and brusquely pushes the other girl at her. Hinata stumbles, hopping a little on one foot. Sakura doesn't know to be glad or pissed off that Sasuke, like practically everyone else in this town, thinks fixing people is all she does.

Hinata apologizes like her sprained ankle is going to ruin the rest of her evening. Sakura notes the heiress is probably more relieved than she is that Sasuke let her go.

He leaves while she heals the Hyuuga's foot, because there have to be better things he can be doing. She wants to throw something at him, callous jerk, but the closest thing she has is a shoe that doesn't belong to her, and probably cost more than she makes in a month. She's getting really tired of looking at that stupid little fan. She hates that he can turn his back on her so easily. She hates that she isn't yet a woman he can't ignore.


	38. Abandoned

The theme from hell!! Because we all know Sakura has abandonment issues. Kind of. She did when she was smaller. Between Sasuke high-tailing it the hell out, and then Naruto going on to becoming a kick ass, if slightly less than street smart, ninja, and what did she do? Give up that stake to normalcy to apprentice herself to bustiest brawn in town, to make Naruto be the decoy so she can pin Saucy-boy to a rock with nothing but her little pinky perhaps?

Geh. I want more sleep.

Set dedicated to **Sphyma **and **Bullwinkle's Lady** for being spoiled on it and having opinions.

38 abandoned

* * *

Hinata looks at her like she wants to sympathize, but can't, because her teammates are insanely loyal, and kind and even though they spoil her, they trust her, because it's Hinata. And the only problem with Hinata is that she's practically perfect, and anyone with half a brain or any sense of self preservation is incapable of hating her. She's too damn nice and so damn shy that it's a wonder she convinced anyone to let her risk her life and her hair for the village.

"Don't look at me like that," Sakura says finally. She wanted to go out to have fun tonight, not a staring contest with someone whose family has reared everyone in it not to blink.

Hinata starts and apologizes, and then hesitantly asks what it is she's not supposed to look at her like.

"Don't look at me like he just abandoned a kitten next to the Inuzuka compound in the rain, and _I'm_ it." She doesn't want pity, not from the resident princess. Not from a girl who's never suffered the way she has suffered. Hinata has never had to lose a teammate, a mentor, a partner, never had to sacrifice herself for someone else, because everyone else seems more than willing to do the sacrificing in her place.

Hinata ruins her sulk, tries to lighten the atmosphere. "Actually, I think kittens would do rather well among the Inuzuka. They'd keep the puppies entertained and out of everyone's way. And everyone has a soft spot for small cute things."

"So how did you sprain it?" Sakura doesn't feel like letting the heiress be kind.

Hinata looks at the ground, wondering if this is any more comfortable a topic than the previous. "Amateur mistake, I didn't wrap it before training. Hanabi's favorite guinea pig is on a mission, so she settled for me."

Sakura thinks back to the mission scrolls she happened to see while trying to tidy her _sensei_'s desk.

"_Neji_ was the one that went with Kiba and Shino and Yamato-taichou? _Why?_"

Hinata shrugs, with a dignified grace Sakura wishes she could copy somehow. "Shikamaru-kun predicted the group would separate once they realized they had Konoha _shinobi_ on their trail, try to lose their trackers or kill them, and regroup later. Neji's _byakugan_ is stronger than mine, and if you have to take on A-rank criminals individually, years of cohesive teamwork isn't a deciding factor any more. It was only natural."

Sakura pretends she doesn't see how disappointed Hinata is she missed another chance to prove herself. It's been years since anyone ever thought _she_ couldn't hold her own.

"Thank you, by the way," adds Hinata, drawing shapes in the air with her toes. "It feels up to mission standard now, if only I had one to go on."

"And miss out on this party?" asks Sakura with pretend horror. "There's more alcohol than water right now, and I'm pretty sure someone was going to make it rain _sake_ as a present."

Hinata looks at her, as if she had been expecting to get in a bitchfight over something so small, like she thinks being Hyuuga Hinata is a sin on top of the slight, with this gratitude and relief and pleased surprise, like every gesture made in kindness is a precious gift, and Sakura wonders if she has been so out of touch with the rest of the Rookie Nine that she did what she and the other _kunoichi_ promised never to do. To let her guard down and forget 'cute and innocent' doesn't mean 'harmless', to forget that women have more than weapons at their disposal.

"Let's return to the others," suggests Hinata politely, moving even before she finishes talking. As she wafts past Sakura, quiet words fall into the whisper of movement. "I'm here for my sister, and my mentor's child, not the last Uchiha and his entourage."

* * *

Hanabi looks up from deciding on stuffed animals as they approach. "You done being the Uchiha's fangirl shield? Because we can't decide if we want the mouse or the cat." Chiyoko's little face is also puckered with thought as she considers her options gravely.

Hinata crouches to let the little girl tell her how Hana-nee threw them so quickly, like she wasn't even looking, and how cute the cat's face is, but how round and squishy the mouse looks.

Sakura looks over at the display of toys. All five of Hanabi's rings rest neatly around the pole. She flicks a quick glance down and decides what the hell, she hasn't had much opportunity to test her accuracy in a while.

She asks for a set of rings.


	39. Dreams

Shock and amazement! I think Ino's the most mature out of the Rookie Nine! Surely God is going to throw a piano at me now. And the door'll hit me on the way out.

theme 39 dreams

* * *

Ino reappears with balloons and fairy floss and more potential dates than she has fingers.

Once, that would have been enough to make her content.

The dreams of a twelve year old girl are very small. Children grow up, girls become women, and the boys they once liked may not become the men they will love. Even in peace, things change.

She was innocent once. She'll never mention it though. It would ruin her image, her reputation. And if you've been surprised once, it's harder to surprise you again. And that's not an opportunity Ino likes to give.

Shikamaru will go on about the 'king', _shougi_, something she only grasped the very basics of to get closer to a mark who gambled with his wits rather than his luck. Ino prefers thinking about children as flower buds, small and closed, dreaming of becoming something even more beautiful.

She kind of hopes Chi-chan will be a _kunoichi_ too. Because Ino has been both, _ninja_ and daughter, and she personally likes being the _ninja_ better. It's hard to wait at home, doing nothing but hoping, praying that Daddy is alright and he'll come back soon to read to her. Ino thinks going out and _doing_ something is more self-satisfying than picking petals off flowers to fill the empty time. Chiyoko should understand at very least, why she doesn't have a Daddy, why they look at her, smile with love and taste regret.

-

It's Ino's team picture on the mantle, next to Kurenai, Hinata, Shino and Kiba. Chi-chan learned who seven out of eight people in those photographs were fairly quickly. The eighth person never comes to visit.

Ino smells pretty and her hair tickles like dandelion fluff, Shikamaru is tall and climbable, Chouji is soft and huggable. Hinata is warm, and her sister is fun, Shino is steady and he brings butterflies and shiny beetles to look at, Kiba tussles with wild gentleness, and Akamaru lets her revel in furry.

-

Not that she'd really been expecting Asuma's, Ino never once thought that Shikamaru'd be any good with kids. But then, she never once thought they'd lose him either.

When she was little, the smell of smoke made Chi-chan's eyes water, and she'd cough something awful. It forced her mother to wash out the lingering traces of her husband, to leave the empty shell of memories she'd spun around herself.

Ino thinks it was good that Kurenai-san moved on, not to forget, she wouldn't forgive the other woman if she dared forget Asuma-sensei, but he fell in love with a _kunoichi_, a strong proud resilient woman, and Ino for one, doesn't believe in false advertising.

It's good, because paying the Sarutobi family a visit doesn't have her suddenly weeping just because the throw pillow smells like ash and lemon.

Why is it good, she wonders, that Asuma's home doesn't smell like him? Would he have put up with the citrusy smell combined with the flowers on the windowsill and the burning incense- She thinks he'd've been like her daddy, scaring boys and buying sweets and teaching her to throw things _properly_ when she was in a tantrum.

-

A firm weight drops on her shoulder. "Oi, the fluff is going to melt if you don't bring your mind back."

"Shut up, jerkface, I'm just thinking." Her eyes haven't left Chiyoko, nestled in Sakura's arms, while Hinata tells her a story, and Hanabi illustrates with expansive gestures and cheap stuffed animals.

Shikamaru rolls his eyes and pretends he wasn't going to make a snide remark. Ino doesn't usually get lost in thought, she doesn't usually have many, because she's impulsive and intuitive; she only has that dreamy look on her face when she's thinking about certain boys, which is less often lately; and she hates when the journey gets in the way of the destination. They shouldn't get along as well as they do, since she nags to show she cares, he risks his life to show _he_ does, and Chouji has to put up with both of their quirky, _not_ faulty, ways of expression.

Asuma's kid doesn't look much like him yet, but then, girls don't tend to look scruffy or shady when they're three either, and with Kurenai, Ino and the Hyuuga girls around, he doubts the girl'll have a fighting chance at being a tomboy. And they're going to expect _him_ to scare the kids that are mean to her, threaten the potential boyfriends, teach her stuff, all sorts of damn inconvenient things. Troublesome women.


	40. Rated

It's like Card Captor Sakura exploded on the first passage! Okay, yeah, not really, I'm just on a CLAMP kick.

Oh right, slang alert! Since I don't know any way to warn you about it, and not ruin it, I shall content myself with this. If you don't get it, but it sounds like it should be dirty, don't worry too much. If you _do_ get it, and it could have been sketchier, that was probably it.

Everyone should address Ino and her diets at some point. Although I don't think she's dumb enough to have an eating disorder AND be a ninja, because that's just not healthy, and she'd collapse before the first week was out. She might be more concerned that when she's NOT doing strenuous activity, her body is storing fat for when she does, and Ino wouldn't want excess bulge at any time. Such is the conclusion of teh clockwork.

40 rated

* * *

Ino makes Chiyoko and Hanabi both take the cloud of gauzy pink stuff, gaily informing them she's on a diet. Hinata catches the darkening of Shikamaru's expression, and softly reminds the little girl to share with everyone, since Ino was so nice in buying it.

Shikamaru takes a less discreet tactic, practically pulling her over to the nearby _takoyaki_ stand. She tries to stomp on his foot, but he's not a _ninja_ for nothing, and he wearily asks what her excuse for not eating is _this_ time.

She smacks him in the shoulder, angrily hissing that she is watching her figure, since she's on leave. They ignore the hoots and whistles and offers to do more than just watch her figure from the losers working the grills.

Sakura is watching with something like amusement, unmindful of Chiyoko and her increasingly sticky fingers on her clothes. Hanabi doesn't really care, and has taken up telling Hinata's fairytale, only adding a few more interesting details that may or may not be detracting from the child-friendly nature of the story her sister had been telling before. It doesn't seem to bother Chiyoko.

-

"You're not throwing yourself at anyone," he reminds her, "so who the hell are you trying to impress?"

"Unlike _some_ people, my image _matters to me_," she shrieks. "And I won't lose to _anyone—_"

"Don't you _dare_ use Asuma as an excuse, Yamanaka Ino." Shikamaru stands straighter, almost menacing, but Ino has never felt threatened by this boy, and she's not about to start now.

"I don't make excuses, and I _don't_ start pity parties over stupid little things—"

"No, you start screaming fits."

Ino's blue eyes snap like lightning, like hottest flame.

"You shouldn't give a fat damn about my love life or how I go about getting one," she enunciates each word with cold venom.

"I don't. But Sakura has the makings of a male harem without the body mass of a toothpick, so why you're risking—"

Sakura seems to realize he's either implying she's fat, or she's loose, and this is not as funny as it was five minutes ago. Her expression darkens and she looks like she might try to send him through a wall, but she has to wait until Ino is done before she can lay into him.

"Just what am I _risking?_ You think I'm a liability, is that it? That I'm some stupid girl who's going to jeopardize the mission… Don't tell me you interrogate Chouji about what I eat—" She pauses to look at him and she's pretty sure she knows him well enough to interpret that silence. "You absolute _prick_," she whispers, cut that even after all they've been through, he can still doubt her.

-

The boors are cheering on the argument, like Ino will turn to one of them just because she's furious with Shikamaru, and Hinata can't stand this invasion of what ought to be a personal moment between two friends-and-teammates and wedges herself between the oblivious arguers and their aggravating audience.

Vapors of oil and cooking meat, fresh and stale, coil around her face, and it feels like every time she breathes she is coating her lungs with honey and glue.

"Can I have a box?" she asks politely, tight-knuckled hands clenching her purse.

"Can I have yours?" The man behind the counter is suddenly leaning into her space leering at her. She stifles a squeak and hastily steps back, away from the offensive smell and even more offensive personality.

Of course she ends up walking into Uchiha Sasuke, who is indifferent to the tableau in the middle of the street; glowering as he tries to skirt his old teammate as well as his new one; glaring as he looks down at her, as if personally insulted by the colorful splash of brocade against his staid blue shirt; and radiating killing intent as he looks over the idiots in the food stand.

-

Ino stops scowling at Shikamaru to admire the murderous, but insanely cool, Sasuke-look-of-death, which twelve year old popular opinion rated to be the best expression he had. Not enough people caught him smiling to know how it compared, and everyone was convinced he went to sleep and still managed to burn holes into the wall with his eyes alone.

Hinata is waiting for the earth to swallow her, but no _doton_ is forthcoming. And now she's stuck, because she'd rather cower here, from Sasuke, next to him even, than subject herself to plebian vulgarities and, in Hanabi's own terms, 'really, really _sketchy_ people'.


	41. Teamwork

Overly overdue, but whatever. At least I didn't die. It's slightly worse than that, you see. I have a boytoy now. And more school. .sigh. stupid school.

Switching POV like mad, but eh. I had to write something.

* * *

This has to be the concerted effort of some mocking higher power, shit luck and why he's better off ignoring other people and rotting at home.

The blonde is looking at him like her birthday came early, Nara is looking at him like maybe he's going to want to stay out of poorly-lit areas for a while if he values his internal organs, Sakura has that 'betrayed and pissed about it' expression, the heiress is between a rock and several hard places and the brats are immersed in some weird story about animals.

He runs a hand through his hair and tries to come up with a better strategy than setting the whole damn street on fire. All he'd wanted was to go home, and he _had_ to choose this particular route, didn't he?

vovovovovov

Even at twelve Naruto was changing the world. She was there for it. Haruno Sakura got tired of just watching though.

They were teammates, classmates, and for a while she was sure… they were friends. Twelve years old and desperately reaching for their dreams; hers were just beyond her fingertips, cool and handsome, the first thing she dared to _want_, to fight for. He was out of her league, as perfect as a _genin_ with a mysterious past could be, and she tried to narrow that gap.

But in the end, his destiny had always been far away.

So far she couldn't see it, didn't know its name or what it'd done. All she knew was that certain someone he had to kill stood between him and the rest of the world. He cut his bonds to the village so easily, to chase the shadow of a ghost, and it hurt. It hurt so much and she just wanted it to stop.

She believed in Naruto, and in Sasuke, because hope made the betrayal seem almost natural, hope made it almost unbearable, because she was just _waiting_, waiting for him to come back, for Naruto to keep his promise, for herself to just grow up so she could shape her own damn destiny.

She looks at him now, and she wants nothing more than to have him back, to patch up that fragmented heaven the way she patches up Naruto's ribs on an almost weekly basis.

vovovovovov

Ino knows she's shallow and judgmental and immature. She might be labeled incredibly nosy, it'd be a lie, but close. At least she's tactful about it. She's also vain and she absolutely hates being let down. And that's that. There's no need to change anything about her, since her imperfections are _not_ her flaws.

She made friends with Sakura first. How many other people can say they knew the Hokage's apprentice when she was small and shy and so terribly afraid of leaving her own world?

She liked Sasuke first. It doesn't matter that she's not in love with him, or that he'd sooner swallow live coal than date her, or even that he's cooler than before. The point is that he didn't completely disappoint.

It'd have been demeaning if her first love had been some idiot traitor that died on the battlefield for_ the wrong side_ and in awful clothes to boot. Now he's just some idiot stud that some other girl will be happily cursed with while she watches the whole awkward courtship.

Ino will want all the gory details. She has to be sure. The boy was her first love, he made the Hokage's apprentice cry, and for his sake important people were almost lost. He had better have been damn worth it.

vovovovovov

Ino's attention has always been drawn to the prettiest things she can find. The prettiest flowers, the prettiest clothes, the prettiest boys. And she accepts people way too easily. Shikamaru isn't such a nice guy that he'd be able to be around the Uchiha so freely, not after that time he actually had to face what it truly meant to be a _ninja_. The way Ino treats him now, he's pretty sure, is no different than the way she would have treated him had he not been a monumental fuckhead. She's found a little more dignity at least.

Years of teamwork has made all the little annoyances from the past into part of history, and somehow, thinking that way makes it all so much more tolerable.

Although, she needs other hobbies, besides Sasuke-watching.


	42. Standing Still

He got me a purple shiny pretty thing for Valentine's Day. And he games, is random, and lets me put his hair up in hello kitty elastics. Why else keep him around?

* * *

Of course he's like no one she knows. He's been and done whatever he pleased; wild crow to her caged nightingale. He's made mistakes and bad choices, but she can see that he doesn't regret anything, and Hinata only wishes she had that kind of courage. She can't even get up the nerve to leave the safety of his personal space because she'd really much rather endure his glaring than put up with the alternative.

If it had been her standing there, pretending to be the kind of damsel-in-distress that Hinata just _is_ when she's feeling helpless, Ino has no doubts Sasuke would shove her to the ground and walk away, and if she happened to be a tangle of silk and dirt in his path, he'd have no qualms whatsoever about getting mud on her pretty clothes. So clearly, there's something to this Sasuke-Hinata theory, since he hasn't yet brushed her off like he has so many others.

Maybe she _does_ have blossoms on the brain, but how much would it suck to be trapped in this line of work with nothing but a paycheck to look forward to? Chouji's thing is food, hers is romance. Ino doesn't have a dramarific, whirlwind paramour of her own to keep her occupied, so she's stuck on the lookout for someone else's.

Hinata has all the little signs of a crush, and _not_ on the resident blockhead this time around, which is good because Sasuke's throwing off less-antisocial-than-usual vibes, which is more progress than anyone else has ever managed.

Maybe it's because she's a flower child, but she just likes seeing people in love. She wants Sakura to be happy, no question, but Sakura looks at him like if she could just _fix_ him it would all be okay and she'd get her childhood dreams fulfilled like nothing happened.

Ino's pretty sure that Sasuke doesn't need to get fixed, he needs to get _laid_. And he won't do it with someone who's still waiting for a twelve year old to come back. Sakura's a healer. They like to save people. Ino's looked around, actually _looked_ around, and she knows that broken things don't need to be fixed to be complete.

The ruins of Sakura's what-could-have-been are still standing, but some people are into that.

vovovovovov

She's not supposed to fall in love with him, remember? She's Hyuuga, and she's Hinata and she's _kunoichi_ and she's _not_ supposed to get that fluttery, rabid-butterflies-in-her-ribcage feeling unless she's taken a blow to the liver. It's not as bad as it used to be. Nothing tops trying to deliver flowers and well wishes to someone in recuperation, only to faint and wake up in _his_ hospital bed, his face puckered with concern where it's not bandaged.

Life is much easier when the sight of blond hair doesn't induce an immediate, embarrassing and possibly injurious psychosomatic reflex. She's made entirely too much progress now to relapse into fainting and stutters every time she sees _black_ hair. She'd spend the next five years in and out of the hospital if she did that.

Flat onyx eyes question her and her situation, specifically why the hell she fights everyone's battles but her own. She knows she's being ridiculous and stupidly romantic, but it feels like when their eyes meet under the warm glow of the evening lanterns, the world skids to a halt, standing still, holding its breath, afraid this soap bubble moment will disappear into nothing.

It's possible she was horribly wrong about not being as bad as she used to be. It's more than likely becoming a teenager has just made the whole thing worse in ways she's not sure how to work with.

At least now, rather than empty numbing dark, the only thing filling her mind is pitifully purplish prose. It could be considered a step up, but the sudden lack of brain-body communication seizes her the same way it did years ago.

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He doesn't need the _sharingan_ to see that all her joints have somehow locked themselves, and it's entirely possible she'd fall over and suffocate in the road if he nudged her even a little. Did she need to be wearing the _hitai ate_ to be able to handle anything, or was this one of those girl things Ino was forever ducking behind?

Was it even possible for a _kunoichi_, heiress or not, to be unable to handle one civilian? She couldn't be so pathetic that adrenaline alone got her through a decade of being a _ninja_. It pisses him off that a fully capable woman was using him as a shield against such a waste of time. The hell was so scary about these losers?


	43. Dying

Yes they sound like teenage girls. Guess what! They _are_. Since I don't speak Japanese, you're going to have to suffer through my linguistic asymptotics.

* * *

Sometimes it's useful that Sasuke's an emotastic but sexy as hell bastard. Ino never thought she'd see the day. The guy behind the counter moves wrong or _something_, because Sasuke's eyes snap to him like a needle to a lodestone. Everyone's noticed the guy has this snake-like need to _stare_ down everything in his surroundings that might be the slightest bit off. The deep fryer is not _nearly_ enough protection for this asshole.

It's hilarious because the jerkoff is mistaking Sasuke's default state of kill-you-dead-and-then-set-you-on-fire angry aura as possessiveness and this has to be the funniest damn thing on the planet since someone tried to give her and Shikamaru a joint surprise birthday party. _So_ not a good judgment call when Shikamaru can pin everyone down _in the dark_ without a thought. Anyway, monumental stupidity like that is a quick ticket to dying early.

Luckily for him, Sasuke's been on his best behavior, under this really dumb impression that it will convince the Godaime to let him take the _chuunin_ exam sooner or something. For a genius, he's taking too long to realize Tsunade-sama didn't stick him with protocol, she stuck him with Naruto. _Difference_. It's really kind of sad that these two are going to be the village's best shot at survival in like twenty years.

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Hanabi doesn't need to be Hyuuga to know what's going on most of the time. Sure it helps, but some things just sound, walk and taste like duck that any more duckness is probably _genjutsu_. Like how Naruto not-so-smoothly detached himself from the group because there was a flash of pink going around that corner. Like how Sakura oh-so-casually joined the group ten seconds later, coming from the opposite direction. Hanabi is convinced they're in the process of some strange and incomprehensible quasi-courtship, because if she _really_ didn't like him, she'd threaten him before she hit him, or she'd cry to just get him to go the hell away. Some strategies will actually work after you're five years old.

Anyway, Hanabi knows that yielding isn't weakness, but still, Hinata does it way too often. It's been getting worse for as long as she can remember. Her older sister needs to get out of this house again, because there are so many damn people in it, that it's entirely too easy for Hinata to get away without having an opinion. 'Hanabi wanted scallion', 'Setsu-san's back hurts', 'Grandfather's friend is coming', everything that she says or does is in deference to someone else. There are blocks of tofu with more spine and individuality than her sister.

Hinata doesn't get challenged enough. She needs to go out with friends more, because she _has_ them somewhere, Hanabi is sure; friends who will glare her into ordering food at greasy side stalls with them, who will nag her into admitting her favorite color so they can buy her birthday presents, friends who don't get guilted into _not_ buying her things because their conviction that they _should_ overpowers the pathetic puppy eyes.

No one wants to push her too hard, because she makes this face that's so full of gratitude it makes her look surprised, and you feel bad that she ever thought you were that kind of person, but you know she didn't mean to make it look like you've never been nice to her except for this one time, so then you feel even worse for thinking _she_ was the kind of person to think you were that kind of person, and it's really just _way too much guilt trip._

Apparently Konoha needs more unfeeling bastards, if only to bring out the color in Hinata's personality. Sasuke's a jerk and a half, but he's her teammate, and it looks like Hinata has this strange masochistic tendency to be nice to unfeeling _shinobi_ who, given the opportunity, might push her to the floor and pretend they didn't know she was there, because she ruins their badass image or something. Neji got over himself though. Sasuke will too. Probably. She could probably dye his hair pink or something if he doesn't. It'll be something to do after she makes this _takoyaki_ grill explode sometime in the night.

vovovovovov

The patented Uchiha glare of maiming is enough to send Hinata stumbling away, back to the relative safety of her sister and Chiyoko since it's certain the men over there will never accost her again. Her handkerchief flutters to the ground like a dying butterfly. Sasuke doesn't even wait for her to take two steps before he resumes his solitary trek back to his own house.


	44. Two Roads

It was hard writing this part. No idea what event/mission/trauma would be plot furthering in a way I liked.

* * *

Ino scowls, and wonders out loud how he can be so rude, doesn't even pick it up or tell her she dropped something. Sasuke turns his hollow black stare to her, and she sticks her tongue out at him, since he's not worth smudging the rouge on her cheek by making face.

She's not wrong, dammit, he is totally treating her special, and it's not just wishful thinking. He was _holding her hand_, and looking like a normal human! Ino is sure that her lungs could be leaking on to the ground, and at best Sasuke would drag her to a medic by the hair. Not that she'd ever be given the chance to test this theory, since one Ino would never take a blade to the chest, two Ino would _never_ take more than a blow twice before doing something about it, and three because if _anyone_, even Uchiha Sasuke, tried to yank on her hair, being half dead would not stop her from beating his ass into the ground. She'd give it four seconds before someone more appreciative of her delicate constitution came to help her anyway.

She turns back to resume her argument with Shikamaru, but he's gone, the lout, taking advantage of her distraction to get out of something troublesome. She didn't mean to force him out just to yell at him when it was supposed to be fun and relaxation and not being stuck in the office, but all her initial good intentions went out the door when he called her judgment into question.

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If Akimichi Chouji were someone else, the friction between his old teammates would be cause for alarm, but they've been doing this for years, and if anything, it makes the team what it is. The other two fight… well, Ino screams, Shikamaru just wants quiet unless he thinks Ino's completely out of her skull, then they fight, and they both rely on him to keep sane. He and Shikamaru have been best friends since forever, so that's understandable, Ino will even wait until she's sure Shikamaru has already talked to him before coming to unload her woes.

It gives her time to think, and Chouji can't give his friend any hints; she doesn't really like the idea of Shikamaru knowing everything about her. He assumes it's either because she doesn't know Shikamaru has already given up on figuring her out, or because she's sure he's smart enough to unravel the mystery that is woman with enough clues.

It's more than entertainment, they know it too. If they got along as seamlessly, and half as silently, as Kiba's team did, Chouji would feel pushed to the background. Shikamaru was Asuma's favorite and Ino always took the centre of attention. Without their little spats, one could only assume Chouji's purpose on the team was brawn to the others' brain and beauty.

This is just how they bonded, and really, there's nothing wrong with it.

* * *

Chouji grins over his shoulder and accepts the plate of _dango_ from his friend. Ino opens her mouth to scold, but Shikamaru manhandles a petal off the rose-shaped _rakugan_ into her mouth before she can start. Her eyes go wide, and she looks about ready to murder him, but she takes the peace offering gracefully, and informs him that if he ever tries to bring her food from an establishment like this, she nods haughtily at the unfortunate counterjerks, she will not hesitate to turn his hair into a dustmop and donate most of his major organs, including that brain he is so renowned for, to the hospital where deserving people actually _need_ them.

Shikamaru gives her a weary grimace and shoves the rest of the sweet at her. He looks over and into Chiyoko's expectant face, and mutters something about Kurenai-sensei and cavities and yet more trouble. It doesn't stop his expression from softening as he crouches down to give her a confection molded like a carrot. She gives him a big smile, remembering their first vegetable war. Ino still delights in reminding him that his longest strategic campaign to date was against a three year old who didn't like _daikon_.

vovovovovov

Hanabi watches her teammate leave with narrowed eyes, noting that she can't read his expression, that his eyes darted to her sister's foot when she fled, that he didn't actually step on the scrap of cloth, even changing the angle of his stride to avoid it. She watches him, cat and mouse limp in her hands, until he reaches the corner, heading west, one of two roads that swings by the old Konoha Military Police station.

She wonders if maybe he would be good for her sister, since her sister isn't much good to herself.


	45. Illusion

I just write. No one said it had to be good. It would just offend me if it weren't, but I'm getting used to it.

* * *

Hanabi wakes later than usual. The sun is a whole ten degrees higher than when she is usually dressed and sipping tea. Neji hasn't returned, or she'd have felt the flurry of activity that would doubtless be borne of his tired and less than sparkly arrival. The house is quiet, but not as peaceful as usual. Her sister must have gone off on a mission.

Strange how it was that one soft-spoken wallflower could affect the whole damn house. For one thing, Hanabi wouldn't be almost late. Hinata would have had her up ages ago, and less grumpy. For another, just knowing Hinata was even around made everyone much more serene; a kind of tiptoe-y, don't-wake-the-baby hush on the entire complex. Hinata has a calming affect on almost everyone, to the point of being soporifically boring, but it's okay because everyone likes her and she likes everyone.

Everyone assumes Hinata is safe to like, which is a stupid, stupid delusion. Oh sure she looks harmless enough, but spend anything more than a month with her and you are _so screwed_. You get it into your head that she's got to be a capable _chuunin_, she wouldn't be so at ease with herself if she weren't, and at the same time you feel like she needs all the protecting in the world, because the world would suck a whole lot more if she were gone.

She's met the other _kunoichi_ at Hinata's level, and they're all captivating in their own way. Tenten has this 'keep at least one eye on me, even if you do, I will still find a way to gut you like a pig' hypnotic charm to her. Sakura draws people like fire, warm comforting embrace or fiery inferno of destruction, fascinating in pink no less. Ino bewitches, casting whichever illusion she pleases, airhead to temptress, all her faces are so desperately real when she gets into them. Hinata, her sister has decided, could off-guard someone to death. Because it seems like everyone is surprised to hear Hinata was capable of anything even resembling a berserk rampage, even though Team 8 was there to witness it. Shows what the hell they know. Sisters are much more important than other people's stupid expectations anyway.

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Ino is ignoring Shikamaru. Kind of. He's team captain, and for a reason, so to be more precise, she's refusing to say anything to him, and assuming this matters. Hinata feels less than comfortable with the atmosphere, but this is an information gathering mission, and everything about it is flexible, which means every step could be the wrong one, but how would you know which one sent everything to hell? As long as they finish alive, the blonde can be as uncooperative as she pleases for now.

Ino is testing the water, seeing how Sasuke's chances stand. Unfortunately, Hinata is a master of evasion when it comes to boys. So Ino is stuck prattling on about how awesome Sasuke is, and Hinata only listens and notes Shikamaru's spine tense like a waiting tripwire.

Hinata finally tires of hearing things she knows but wishes she could ignore because Sasuke's many attributes do not need to be more of a diversion. She interrupts hesitantly to ask what this mission will require of her.

Ino allows Shikamaru to tell her, eyes sober, wrists twitching distractedly. It's not every day a long term mission is terminated with such brutal efficiency.

"Konoha had a team, two _chuunin_, one _jounin_, in highly advantageous positions to observe and collect information on underground activity around the capital. Knowing what the small fry are doing is useful for getting an idea what the real threats are. Nothing has been heard from any of them for a week. We can't risk waiting for a reply, especially if they're not going to be able to give them. Optimistically, they died around the same time by sheer coincidence." Shikamaru doesn't need to say the greater concern is that they were discovered, and disposed of.

"We're a small cell, of unknown faces, and our abilities together are sufficient. Moving any more than us into the city would be noticeable and that's the last thing we want. We're going for the illusion of trivial and harmless. Cover stories have been prepared."

Ino pulls out a brightly colored scroll, a collection of folk songs roughly written on fading parchment, simple, most cheerful, a few longing, and some downright lewd.

"Tenten made it for you. She says you're pretty good at them." She turns over a hidden corner and shows off the summon seals on behalf of the absent _kunoichi_. "When did you have the time to learn a _koto_?"


	46. Family

I has no comment, and no excuse.

* * *

Sentry duty isn't as boring as some might think. The worst that happens is some ass, probably drunk, doesn't let you search his stuff, and then gets pissed at _you_ when you find the stuff he knows he shouldn't have. But you get to see new people from other places, most of them without more than the clothes on their back to their name. Like these three, close together, but looking nothing alike. Probably orphans picked up by traveling musicians, old enough to try their own hands at busking. Good enough family for a good enough living.

Kiyo doesn't even need to look very hard to know their recommendations are fakes. Only hired musicians, attached to noble families, ever had real papers. But they'll soon lose what little money they have on food and lodging, at premium rates, if they aren't any good.

The look like they are though. The blonde has a natural sway to her hips that makes it seem like music dances to please her, rather than the other way around. The quiet little brunette must be horrendously short-sighted, or those glass bottle lenses were the closest thing they could find for her. The two girls are lucky they have their wiry brother to watch out for them, and to carry the instruments.

* * *

Shikamaru doesn't like this. The previous team kept excellent notes, regularly sent back home, coded of course, but a long message is ridiculously easier to solve than a short one. Of course they did it in case some other team had to take over for them, but it bothers him how much information they kept where it might be found. Notes from the marketplace; which organizations sent their women to shop where, what they bought the most. The gambling houses; locations, bosses, how they loaded their dice. The pleasure quarter; names, faces, ranks, who favored what whore. All of it and more had been sent to Konoha at some point, allowing at least five missions here to be successful.

If someone broke the code, had realized what was happening and had the muscle, or the money, to get rid of three _shinobi_ with no fuss, the Village needed to know.

Tomorrow night they'll bait the trap, and hope that no one falls into it. But for now, they need to claim a street corner, so they have the money to rent a room today to formulate the rest of the plan.

vovovovovov

The gentle strains of a flute waft through the noise of the crowd somehow, and more than one head turns to watch the wild spins and choreographed flailing that Ino insists is dancing. Shikamaru doesn't see it, but it's a big world, and Hinata isn't having any trouble matching her music to this madness, so whatever. The only problem Hinata does have is keeping her glasses from sliding down her nose and showing everyone in the market and across town her precious family-secret eyes, which would land them all into something entirely too troublesome.

Ino throws herself down next to the chipped bowl overflowing with coins and starts counting. She's hoping it will be enough for a good room, one that doesn't leak, doesn't break easily, mostly soundproof, with running water. Hopefully they aren't going to be staying so long as to need to save their earnings.

* * *

Someone knows. Someone can see the things they shouldn't, knows where to find hidden messages, knows how to read the secrets that belong to the Leaf. Hinata sees him, sneaking into the empty backroom of the apothecary, looking for notes in their usual places. Ino feels slightly sick when Hinata tells them someone correctly read the dummy communications. Torture, information and cryptology aren't the same department, but by the end of the day, about the time the bars open, they're all working different sides of the same case. And Ino's gotten friendlier with most of the people in those departments ever since she became _chuunin_, since Daddy slowly started introducing her to the Yamanaka legacy.

A breach of security this critical leaves a rotten taste in her mouth, and all she wants to do is go home and tell someone, tell Daddy, tell the Hokage. If only she could tell Shi-chan, whose old glasses she borrowed to hide Hinata's eyes, who takes care of her Daddy on those late nights when Ino can't, who explained to her once with deadly calm that while she may have been a dowdy bookworm, she was still a _kunoichi_ of Konoha, so could she please stop trying to treat her like some innocent. Ino likes it when new people surprise her like that.


	47. Creation

.quack.

* * *

They're gone with the morning dew, all of them thanking providence they were done quickly, without conflict. An information leak, like water rushing at a cracked dam, only grows worse with time. They are appropriately grateful their opponents were hasty, impatient, and supremely sloppy. They didn't even stay to kill the stray bird that went poking for news.

Shikamaru insists they take the time to empty the landlord's coin purse, to make it look like they are the usual trash. Anything out of the ordinary is remembered, and being remembered is one of the worst things for any _ninja_ mission.

Hinata, even though she tries not to, feels rather useless. The only reason it was a B-rank mission was because of the potential it held of going wrong. Still, she knows how it feels to be underestimated, and to believe it. She doesn't want to think this is all she is capable of. The shackles of insecurity tighten around her heart, even though ten years of experience of being a _ninja_ are fighting it, throwing her rank, her name, her father's wordless approval, her sister, her friends, anything she can think of to counter such a crippling strike. It doesn't help, because there's the rest of the family, the people who refuse to acknowledge that maybe she's not worthless. There's the _shinobi_ who only know of her, how she was small, and so fragile, how the office probably gave her team easy missions on her account. There's the nice people in the market, who don't think she's at all suited to the life of a _ninja_, the Hyuuga attendants who think she's better off settling down with a family. She knows _this_ is why she is weak, because she can't bring herself to not care about people who don't matter.

Not like Naruto. He has it so clearly in his head; the people he'll protect, as Hokage, as a _shinobi_, don't necessarily know what the hell they're talking about. She doesn't know how to live for a goal so single-mindedly, to the point of rejecting and overcoming everything blocking the way. Maybe that's why Naruto and Sasuke can have a connection that won't be broken, a creation forged and tempered in that short space between being a child and being a _ninja._

She forces herself to pull it together. She's the only scout they have, and it is imperative she keeps them updated. Her distraction could be costly, and the fact that no one would hold it against her doesn't help.

* * *

For political reasons Team 8 doesn't do many D-rank missions. People aren't too comfortable with the idea of Uchiha Sasuke in their backyard, or around the _daimyo_'s prized mastiff, or even near the water supply. Which means Hanabi rarely has to get her hands dirty, except occasionally with blood, but what the hell ever. Cleaning trash might be more fun than this baby-sitting job.

Kimiko is giving her the same look she has… this makes seventeen times now, and it's only been two hours since they got the mission. Prissy noblespawn. Hanabi is pretty sure she's only this self-important because her daddy _really _enjoys the view from _daimyo_'s ass, and comes home with the boss's favor every day, because else would he get the leech to leave?

It doesn't help that daddy is playing messenger boy for the _daimyo_, he came in and demanded to see the Hokage, flapping at security, squawking that he was Lord Ryuusuke, and crude; read: not rich and slightly unwashed; peasants would not use such flimsy excuses to lay their hands on his person or his purse. Well… he said belongings, but he seems like a handbag kind of guy. Izumo-_senpai_ finally cleared the guy's documents with some bull about no one daring to take advantage of the illustrious lord's visit, _shinobi_ could easily kill and impersonate a guard, especially one unfamiliar to the family, and for their safety, all personal effects needed to be searched, in case some one wished ill upon such a renowned man.

Naruto about burst his gut laughing to hear Kotetsu mimicking the stilted whines. Hanabi would have too, but the fact that they had been called in to the Tower meant they had a mission, probably to do with the loathsome lord.

That it's the daughter isn't much better, because Uchiha Sasuke is, well… Uchiha Sasuke, and his angry, pretty boy, bad ass fusion, beyond sounding like a restaurant ad, has anything with less than two firing neurons all afuss with spring fever. And Naruto, according to the unofficial Academy polls, has a boyish exuberance and roguish charm, added to the fact that he's saved several Villages and is kinda cute.

Hanabi refrains from apologizing for being a girl, underage, a bit on the scrawny side, oh, and better pedigree. Shallow bitch.


	48. Childhood

can has... life? universe? everything? how about a turtle?

* * *

Team 8 does not want to be 'escorting' the lady Kimiko while her father attempts to convince the Hokage to decrease the going rate to attract more business from other countries, and keep his eyes in his head. She keeps trying to get Hanabi to crawl into small, dirty spaces, on the claim that she 'saw something suspicious', and leave with the boys. Like Naruto even knows what a threesome is.

Hanabi _really_ wants to replace some of the fresh flowers going to her lady's rooms with some better ones; no offense to the floristry business; courtesy of the nice insect-infested deadly part of the forest. Too bad screwing up any mission is not an option, for her records or the Village's budget.

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Nobles have thing about bathing. Hanabi likes not being caked with blood and dirt as much as the next girl, but what the hell is up with needing to smell like a dog that rolled in a flower patch? Anyway, the girl is probably going to be spending at least an hour in the bathhouse, because private residences don't usually use half the water supply in one night trying to keep the water the 'right temperature', and the guest quarters most definitely do not.

Protocol demands Hanabi go in with her, in case, god forbid, she get attacked in the buff. Kimiko is looking less than thrilled, and Hanabi, despite the urge to suddenly come down with a devastating rash, refrains from comment.

They sit, in silence in one of the tubs, flavored too strongly with rose and other femininey smells.

"About Sasuke-kun—," Kimiko begins.

"Don't bother," Hanabi interrupts, "he had a traumatic childhood."

"So then—"

"Naruto did too. We don't talk about it."

"Are they…"

"Gay?" Hanabi asks, warming to her new game. "Don't think so. Sasuke has a hard on for smiting. That's about it." She thinks for a minute, kicking her feet in the water. "Naruto writes porn for money, sometimes, and might be a hermaphrodite. He turns into a scantily clad woman on a regular basis. Don't take either of them home to show daddy. I sure as hell wouldn't."

Kimiko doesn't know what to do and leaves her alone to soak, but Hanabi takes a malicious sort of glee in noting that she's not nearly as relaxed and into her bath as she was. Serves her right.

* * *

Ino is restless throughout the debriefing, even though a runner had to have been sent, at some unseen command, to change all communication ciphers. Still, she doesn't like waiting, has never been very good at it, which makes being a _ninja_ with secrets a little difficult, but she manages.

Shiho's going to be swamped for the next month, which is a shame because she makes learning history more fun than reading. She knows all these obscure names and places and dates along with the important ones, on like, the off chance it's the key to a code. That's got to be more troublesome than being a genius like Shikamaru. _He_ doesn't need to think until he has to, poor Shi-chan's got to remember _all_ that stuff every single day. Still, this means she'll have to hit the books for her studies. She's got to know at least as much crap as any _geisha_, to talk comfortably and easily on past and current events without taking sides or betraying allegiances.

She's known, since she was a little girl, that her family is important. Nothing stupid and small would keep her daddy away for weeks at a time. For sure, these abilities aren't for the combat _ninja_, they aren't suited for battle; only in small skirmishes will they be of any real use. After all, she can't have someone around _just_ to look at her lifeless body, right?

vovovovovov

Hinata lingers after the mission report, hoping to get an idea when her cousin and teammates will be back from their classified venture. They should be sending missives regularly, to keep the village updated. All she really needs is that they're making some progress, just a few steps closer to coming home. She can't help worrying, knowing they're the kind of boys that forget to keep warm in favor of keeping low, that will go without meals or rest, or proper treatment, for as long as they can stand.

She should believe in them, but sometimes even _ninja_ suffer a severe lack of common sense.


	49. Stripes

Yah hi, I know it's been a while but... I'm going to Australia in the evening, and I only discovered this last week, so cut me some slack, and take it like a woman.

And I didn't get anything done for my birthday this year, sad effing panda. So no smut fest.

* * *

She still needs to shower, but that doesn't stop her from asking where her sister is. The maids only know that the young heiress is on a mission but not where or what kind of course, and they apologize for not being helpful. It's pointless to ask for anything more, so Hinata doesn't, but she does have to ask herself why everything in her world seems to revolve around other people. The only things she can do by herself are garden and perform _kata_. She can't even train properly without someone telling her what she needs to do.

She wanders into the kitchen courtyard, where the cooks are already stoking the flames for dinner. A group of her young cousins are arguing over a complacent looking kitten. She can't help but drift toward them, unwilling to see even conflict of this size.

"Hina-sama!" wails one of the littler girls, immediately latching on to her knee. Hinata doesn't really want to think about how even the children are using her for their own means.

"What's wrong Hanako?" she asks gently, and gets a flood of voices in response. She manages to untangle enough of the clamor to get the story. The disagreement is over the sleepy kitten, and what he should be named; 'Stripes' for obvious grey and black reasons, or 'Tummy', because he lies down for skritches every time a likely candidate walks by.

She has to admit that both names capture him quite well but that won't solve anything, so she points at his little white feet and tells them he's a _tabi_-cat. She smiles to herself when all the children agree, without a trace of discontent, on the name. Sometimes a little abuse of power is all it takes.

* * *

"I want to strangle her." Hanabi has not been in a good mood for the last day, and she is not improving. She hasn't been able to go home, or to get the snacks she wanted, or to get a change of clothes. It's bad enough that her sister has the beginnings of a celebrity crush on her teammate, but now her job does too. Being a _kunoichi_ _sucks_.

"You can't handle a simple baby-sitting job, Hyuuga?" sneers Sasuke, as if the lady's confused flirtation-interrogation isn't slightly more unnerving than the fangirling.

"Listen, little sparrow," intones Naruto from where he's reading manga on the ceiling. "Key to victorious baby-sitting lies in immobilizing baby." He only manages to dodge one of Hanabi's scrolls.

"That's treason, and I refuse to be fired because you're a stupidhead!" she snarls, wishing someone would invent some sort of anti-idiot device.

"_Shinobi_-san!!" A maid clatters in, having no time to take off her shoes. "One of the guards… in the bathhouse!"

Three blurs make their way outside in half a second. Naruto to report it, Sasuke and Hanabi to clear the scene.

Kimiko will have to suffer without her afternoon dose of bishi. The possibility that she might die, tempting as it is, is something they're supposed to be preventing.

-vovov-

Sakura had been about to pound his head into the ground, but she stopped when Naruto apologized and pled 'official business'. The chatterbox. He didn't even last one question before he was spilling all the details. Naruto might be prepared for interrogation, but you'd think he'd have better defenses against casual conversation. What if some particularly skilled _henge_ user takes advantage of her rather obvious personality traits to pump Naruto for information? She should be more confident that Naruto would be able to tell the difference, but he's incapable of believing the worst until after the fact.

-vovov-

The official medic arrives on Sakura's heels, but even so they can't do anything. Sakura is staring at the corpse's fingernails when the team comes to take it to the coroner to be analyzed.

Sakura doesn't look happy. Naruto bounds over to see what's bugging her, but only gets a string of gibberish.

"Muscles were cramped, too early for _rigor mortis_ though, skin was blistered, no sign of build up in nails or hair…"

"Ne, Sakura-chan, aren't you off-duty? It's someone else's problem now, so go back to your book, kay?"

He clearly has the best of intentions, but gets a fist to the face for his efforts.

"Hell no, Naruto, there's no way studying beats out practical application. That guy didn't die in any way I've seen before, and I'm putting myself on this case!"


	50. Breaking the Rules

My boytoy got me a spherical plushie penguin for my birthday.

50 breaking the rules

* * *

He knew Tsunade was going to be super pissed at him for making her precious apprentice completely forget she was _ordered_ to take the day off and catch up with her sleep schedule. Doesn't really matter. For Team 7 it wasn't so much about breaking the rules, but ignoring the ones that didn't work. Still, Uzumaki Naruto has better things to do than be lectured.

Naruto's going to be a _bad_ influence on her, Hanabi knew it right away. Naruto doesn't hold back when relating his old pranks, and she's heard how he KOed the _Sandaime_ with fake boobs entirely too many times. Konohamaru has a huge thing for Fujikaze Yukie after sneaking into all the Icha Icha movies. Someone really should tell that guy it's unfortunate his uncle was the only sane man in his family. Perversion should _not_ be genetic. They are definitely going to have to keep Chi-chan away from him.

She really _shouldn't_ have left Kimiko in the other room, the small, windowless little cupboard, but it _is_ the closest thing to a stronghold the embassy rooms have. That and Hanabi can watch over the lady without having to listen to her. Her parents brought her up better than this. Oh well.

Naruto and Sasuke are taking entirely too long to secure the area.

* * *

"It could be murder or an accident. People's hearts give out all the time, on purpose or by natural means. There are signs of electrocution…"

"Don't look at me," Sasuke gripes at his teammates.

"… but not on the magnitude of the _chidori_," continues Sakura with more force. A slap of her hand on the table causes some slight splintering and serves to bring Hanabi's attention back to the report. And stop her from mouthing things at Sasuke.

"Tissue samples show elevated concentration of heavy metal ions, particularly mercury. Not unusual given that the waters in the south where he was born, the fish all have some degree of mercury in them. The blood work hasn't come in yet; a cursory search gave us no puncture wounds, but people are creative, and the coroner is understaffed. No trace that anything poisonous had been ingested, and no other clear cause for heart failure. Higure-san was totally confused, wondering if it was biological warfare or something. You're lucky the Hokage's apprentice was there, otherwise everyone in this entire building block would have been in quarantine for god knows how long."

"If you know what happened, why aren't you telling us?" asks Sasuke impatiently.

The guy from the coroner's office, Kenjiro or something, has been switching between gazing at Sakura spouting her medic babble, and twitching with the urge to interrupt her. Hanabi is pretty sure he's got a crush on the pink-haired _kunoichi, _since he's also been sneaking these pointy little stares at her teammates. She had been contemplating tying his shoe laces together, since no one woulda noticed except maybe Sasuke, but he walks while he talks, which is a shame, since now he's yapping.

"Fat cells store toxins. Electricity, well, fries the cells, and they rupture. Not sure if someone put a radio or something into the water for a couple of seconds or what, because… to know for sure if you can destroy the cells without direct contact to the live wire… it'd need to be done on a living person. We can't exactly experiment on the freshly dead, protocol and all, and by the time it goes to Higure, too many changes _post mortem_, including the pH of the skin, which would affect how well the body conducted…"

"So you're saying you don't know what killed him."

"I'm saying you have a hypothesis. If it was done on purpose, it was masterfully planned. If you're going to throw stuff while the guy is taking a bath, you may as well crispy fry him. But using the natural build up of poison already in the victim? Absolute genius. It could easily have been accident. Tossing a toaster in would have been a little over done, no pun intended, and, well, a little obvious."

Hanabi thinks she can see sparkles in his eyes. She knows people, not even just _ninja_, have personality quirks, but she'd've thought the guys who got off to this sort of stuff would be… in a cave somewhere cackling over glass jars and experiments, not actually serving time in gainful employment.

It's probably because the dead guy was on their side, but Hanabi is not comfortable comparing him to a sausage or popcorn or whatever other 'funny' analogies Kenjiro comes up with.


	51. Sport

I actually did name my penguin Tummee. It truly is as close to spherical as a penguin can be.

51 sport

* * *

Hanabi waits for Kenjiro to leave before sidling up to Sakura.

"You buy his theory?" she asks bluntly. "Mercury poisoning isn't exactly uncommon. And he's kinda… what's the term I want… fucking _crazy_?"

"Note how he's coroner's assistant, and not the coroner. Your guard had _none_ of the symptoms of mercury poisoning. But Kenjiro's apparently been useful with his morbid creativity. I've heard he's stumbled on the right answer more than a few times. But this one… the medical basis is entirely not there. It's possible the electricity could have been to paralyze him so the poison could be injected without a struggle."

"Electricity locks all the muscles," Sasuke points out, as someone who knows first hand what electric pulses will to do an unsuspecting body.

Sakura catches on, and blushes. "And with his entire body tensed, blood flow would pretty much stop, so injecting him wouldn't do anything until he unfroze, and even then there'd still be time to tell someone he was attacked." She stops and thinks, _hard_. "Did he ever smoke here?"

Naruto, who still likes telling people, and perfect strangers at that, at least once a day that he's going to be Hokage, scratches his elbow while he tries to remember, and shakes his head.

"Nope, not that I know of. Oh right, the smell of smoke makes Kimiko-sama ill." He grimaces in recollection. "Why do you ask?"

Sakura's brain is going into overdrive. "His mouth smelled very strongly of cigarettes, but I didn't see any nicotine stains on his fingers, so I wondered if he just started. But if he's not supposed to smoke… he was poisoned," she state unequivocally.

"Tobacco, if prepared right, can kill in less than ten minutes if ingested. Since your killer didn't have ten minutes, he made them, by paralyzing the target. The fact that he was in the bath at the time would cover up sweating and pallor. The paralysis also made it impossible to relieve the nausea by vomiting. There aren't many signs of nicotine poisoning, and we missed all of them!" She stands up and runs out of the room, presumably to verify her conclusions.

Team 8 is left gaping at one another. Hanabi finally breaks, and asks to no one in particular, "But what's the point of killing the guard? If you're gonna knock someone off, it could have been someone, y'know, _important_."

"It's a message. They're telling us, and by extension our employers, that they could pick off the civilians like it's a sport. It's definitely an inside job." Sasuke glowers at the vague handprint on the table, not thrilled at all this mission just got upped a rank.

Naruto flops down on his back and sighs wistfully. "Sakura studies so hard. How many other people would know all that?" he asks in admiration.

Hanabi and Sasuke stare at him, and almost as one turn to each other.

"How many people _would_? Either someone got _really_ lucky or…"

"Someone hired pros," Sasuke finishes.

* * *

The basket rolls, letting eggs and fruit get trampled. Hinata does her best to save it, but she can barely prevent her own groceries from suffering the same fate.

She peers between the buildings for the basket's owner, certain she is here from the trail of grapes. She must be celebrating something, to buy so many imported fruits.

It's dim and the ground is sticky from the massacre of produce. A triangle of light from the other end of the passage illuminates the mess of black hair. The body surprises her, but she keeps hold of her shopping.

The clothes she wears are bluish gray, plain, forgettable, and untainted by blood. A quick check with the _byakugan_ confirms the woman is dead, the cause still lodged in her brain.

In the hour it takes for the body to be identified, Hinata's patience has eroded very quickly. She's spent too much time being patronized by people she actually respects to put up with being asked the same questions five different ways.

"No, I _don't_ know who she is, or where she's from. I only picked up the basket and came to find the owner."

"You say she was already dead on the ground when you found her, and yet you assert that the cause of death—"

"She said there are nails in the nasal cavity." The ANBU operative squeezes the uppity medic's shoulder in warning. "I would believe her."


	52. Deep in Thought

90 per cent tummy, 10 percent extremities. His wings are about the the length and half the width as his feet.

52. deep in thought

* * *

Kenjiro isn't having it. "She claims no relation to the incident, but—"

"We apologize for delaying you, Hyuuga-sama." The _tanuki_ head tilts, indicating she should go. "Someone should have taken your shopping to your estate right when your… interview began."

Hinata bows and flees quickly. She crashes straight into Naruto.

Which is kind of like walking into a wall covered in orange peels from Hanabi's perspective, so it's no surprise she bounces straight off before Naruto can reach out to help her. She steadies herself, but then realizes she's standing on Sasuke's foot.

Hanabi catalogues the shade of red her sister turns, and how her eyes go misty right before they lock onto the floor, and how her hands shift like she wants to touch something she really shouldn't. It's not quite as bad as Konohamaru was when Fujikaze Yukie came to Konoha for a promotional campaign, but it's the unavoidable truth. Hyuuga Hinata; diagnosis: celebrity crush.

"What are you doing here?" Hanabi asks, diverting her sister's attention before she can perfect that impression of a tomato. Sasuke is already walking away.

"I'm not done questioning you!"

All of Team 8 can feel the day just getting worse. Hinata can't stop her mouth curling into a slight pout. She's grateful she got a good night's rest in her own bed; otherwise the temptation to leave him twitching in the questionable muck in that alleyway might have been too much.

"It's been confirmed there are two nails in the victim's skull, entry through the nostrils, piercing the brain. She was dead instantly."

"And?" Hinata asks warily, not sure if she's still being interrogated.

"If you didn't do it, how did you know?!"

Hanabi, who knows these things, thinks Hinata looks about ready to cry, because she doesn't believe in cruelty to animals or less sophisticated creatures.

She gives him a particularly sinister smile as Hinata makes her politely phrased escape. "My sister can see things. Things normal people can't. Things normal people shouldn't."

"Just like I can see your fly is down," adds Naruto, nearly falling over with laughter.

Sasuke's reappearance lets Team 8 indulge in collectively ignoring the sputtering medic.

"It's the maid who told us about the guard yesterday." He scrapes his bangs out of his face. "Probably the same murderer." He glances down at Kenjiro, and takes a very obvious step away.

"Definitely feeling the 'inside job' now," mutters Hanabi. "What woman follows someone she doesn't know into a deserted alley?"

Naruto is suddenly deep in thought. "She got killed while she was shopping. Shouldn't we—"

"Amazing, you're actually being thoughtful. Get what you can from them, I'll go back and check that none of the other staff is dead," Hanabi volunteers and takes off.

"I was gonna say, shouldn't we find the shopping list and see what we need for dinner?"

Sasuke fights the urge to practice this newfound method of murder, probably wouldn't do any good, given how thick Naruto's skull must be.

* * *

Kimiko isn't used to having her life threatened, though Hanabi can't see why. She's being even more annoying than usual. She doesn't get why dinner has to be delayed, why Sasuke and Naruto are off investigating some worthless maid, why they had to move her into less pleasant rooms with no windows, right next to the bathroom which has so many people walking by it.

Hanabi explains for the seventh time that _ninja_ can easily get into a bedroom from the window, and that if she were farther away from the high traffic area, it would be less likely for anyone to notice something bad happening to her. Kimiko doesn't want to listen though, because Hanabi is twelve, and skinny, and not trying in any way to be persuasive. The little _kunoichi_ finally breaks.

"This," she snaps, _kunai_ in hand, "is a small, easily hidden weapon. It could not only cut your throat in half, but I could shove it between your ribcage with little to no resistance. It would be messy, and I wouldn't be able to get it back, but you would be dead, unattractively dead."

Hanabi levels her father's glare at the other girl. "I'll be happy to give you a free sample. Otherwise, shut up and let me do my job."


	53. Keeping a Secret

This is not a penguin that would survive in the wild.

Zensai – Japanese equivalent of _hors d'oeuvre_

53 keeping a secret

* * *

It's an unavoidable fact of life. Kimiko, and her father, no matter how much of a farce, are nobility, so it's only natural they get to rub elbows with their peers. Hanabi's only thing is that disinfecting one's elbow is kind of tricky to do at the dinner table. At least the odious little family aren't stepping foot in the Hyuuga compound.

Picky things didn't even bother hiding their distaste at the idea of 'local flavors'. _Kimono_ would be warmer and more comfortable, but this is not that kind of restaurant. They have a table with chairs, and Hanabi bangs her knee into when she sees who takes a seat next to her sister.

"What are you doing here, Uchiha?" she hisses so that only the _ninja_ in question and maybe Hinata can hear. Kimiko, like the good daughter she is, is looking for potential husbands among the males that don't need to _work_ for their money, and isn't paying them any attention.

"Hanabi!" her sister reproaches, going so far as to pinch her forearm through the silk blouse.

"He's neither landed nor titled, so it's not my mistake, he _shouldn't be here_," she argues almost inaudibly back.

"Do your research, brat," mutters Sasuke across her sister's plate.

"Sasuke-dono is a valuable _shinobi_ and to reward him for his loyalty to Konoha, and the Land of Fire, the _daimyo_ himself granted him the ownership of all the Uchiha estate," Hinata explains. Like she actually believes that's what happened.

Hanabi takes her sister's words and translates them less than quietly.

"You defected. Everything you own should have been confiscated. But because you're you, and everyone wants to tap that, the _daimyo_ made Konoha take you back and even sweetened the deal for you. Tsch. Seems even stray dogs have a favorite pile of trash."

"Your attempt at blending in with the other guests is failing miserably. Whoever trained you is crap." He sounds bored, and not keeping it a secret, as if baiting Hanabi is only slightly more interesting than engaging in social pleasantries.

"I thought eating good food was supposed to bring harmony to the table," murmurs Hinata to her plate.

"Like hell this foreign stuff is good food," retorts Hanabi, puckering slightly at the flavors fighting for dominance in her mouth. _Zensai_ should only be light enough to hold one over to dinner. And you shouldn't be able to taste the damn thing a week later either. Polite company sucks.

* * *

His knuckles brushed against her wrist when they reached, and she can feel her face heating up, almost as badly as it did when she was twelve. Now though, it has more maiden comeliness than before. She takes a sip of the water she almost dropped hastily, and thinks this will be a very long evening.

They have to move out of the way to let the waiter refill the tumblers. When they shift back, he nearly puts his chair on her foot. The sudden surge of chakra makes the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The split second pause is enough for her to reposition, crossing her ankles demurely, safely out of the way of Uchiha Sasuke and any other hazardous furniture.

Hanabi is mouthing things at him, positive he can read lips easily, even though he is acting ignorant. She knows she's right when she says real _ninja_ don't almost lame other guests and a tic starts in his left eye.

Hinata has to fight to keep her sister from sniping Sasuke with her cutlery when he asks if the Hyuuga family knows animals, especially wild ones, were not allowed in the restaurant. He brushes the salad fork away like there is nothing at all out of the ordinary. Knowing Hanabi, trying to throw things with her feet because someone has her hands pinned probably isn't.

"She'll make a wonderful wife someday," mutters Sasuke to Hinata seriously. "And when that day arrives, you should be among the first to congratulate the widower."

Hinata only barely stops the blush from being addressed directly from spreading over her face. It takes some precise use of chakra to slow the blood flow in her cheeks, but she manages it. Unfortunately, Hanabi still sees the goopy little grin that starts, and at her expense no less, before her sister fully realizes what has just been said, and the smile slides off her face, fighting for every millimeter as it goes.


	54. Tower

However, my bedroom isn't _that_ wild, so I guess Tummee should be fine. Although there are somethings innocent penguin eyes just should not see.

54 tower

* * *

Hanabi is annoyed, of course, at being the butt end of a joke, but it made her sister laugh. It didn't get much further beyond the tilt of her mouth, because laughing at your sister, who is a dangerous and awesome _kunoichi_ sitting right next to you, is so not good form. But Hinata smiled. Not one of those sparkly _bishoujo_ moment smiles, like goddess descended from heaven or compassion and love to the max. But a smile that's not pretty, that will show too much teeth and wrinkle your eyes because it was _funny_ and you can't even laugh properly because of the oxygen deprivation.

Hanabi has only seen this once, because Shino said something witty when only Hinata could hear it, because it was at Kiba and Naruto's expense. Hinata has one of the pickiest senses of humor Hanabi has ever seen. Naruto's pranks and crude one-liners, just make her worried or embarrassed, because even if she is a _ninja_, she's still a lady and the crap he does is either dangerous or stupid or both, and no eighteen year old threat-to-the-world-as-we-know-it should find fart jokes so hilarious.

So he made her laugh. Score one for the Uchiha.

* * *

Kimoko's sleeve decorations catch against the tablecloth and the delicate wineglass tinkles musically into a hundred pieces. Hanabi kicks her lightly, but hard enough that the noble daughter's legs are pressed against the flat of the table, away from the shards scattering light and claret.

The waiters are on the spill in half a second, a sign for everyone to go back to their chitchat.

Hinata keeps sneaking glances over her shoulder anyway, eyes unreadable as they rest on jagged edges clawing the carpet. She doesn't like the idea that any of those splinters might escape notice and hurt someone is Hanabi's guess. Though why Sasuke is doing the same thing is a bit mystifying. Maybe he's counting splinters of fractured light. Maybe talking to Hinata really is that boring. Maybe he's having fun making the guy peering at Hinata's legs break into a cold sweat.

-vovov-

Dinner is dragging on and on and on, a droning hum like a bee's nest, but with less getting done. Hanabi thinks it'd be kind of useful to have a _shishi odoshi_ in here, just so the clacking noise would interrupt the sticky flow of conversation, like waving at flies on a carcass, only for them resettle and buzz all the louder.

Stupidest water feature ever. Listening to it for too long lulls the senses, and in that split second when the bamboo hits the stone, all awareness focuses on the sound and not on anything that might be hiding in it.

Hanabi tested it once. The bamboo, heavy with water, sailed down, and rapped her knuckles, like maybe a mother would have done. But it didn't make any noise. The old uncles playing _shogi_ actually looked up from their game in confusion and finally noticed the tea long gone cold next to them, the guy patrolling nearly missed a step and she got her feet wet.

The next week it took her about half an hour, moving only when the water was rushing out, to get her five year old self from one end of the corridor to the other, but she managed to steal one of the tower shaped pieces and stuff it in her mouth while blinking innocently up at the men who were surprised as all hell to see her there.

Those two were part of the deciding weight when Council ended up deciding nothing at all in terms of who would inherit. Hanabi's okay with it, since being important makes you go wrinkly faster, and she's never seen important people wearing yellow. And yellow is her favorite color.

Yellow is the sun is her sister. Yellow is the burning chrysanthemum petals of her fireworks. Yellow isn't dignified. Yellow clashes with the silver of her legacy. Yellow tastes like lemon and feels like flower hearts and shooting stars. Yellow's a good color. She likes yellow.

For some reason, when she starts paying attention again, her sister and her teammate are doing the polite conversation thing. Although it might lose the polite factor soon. Debating whether the fall of Amegakure contributed to the recent economic slump probably doesn't lend itself toward courtesy, especially when the participants are disagreeing.


	55. Waiting

I'm missing 56, I know, I sorry, but I is LEAVING and I've had finals and grading and a birthday and a boyfriend and packing so really, more important things in life than fanficcing. OOPSIE

55 waiting

* * *

The dessert is too sweet, heavy with cream and layers of pastry. Sasuke only manages to look at it scathingly. Hinata at least eats a little bit. Picks at it, really. Even the fruit on top has been glazed with syrup, as if its natural tartness were an offense. Hanabi's is gone, and the forlorn looking remains of her sister's are next on the list. What _ninja_ can't sneak an unwanted piece of cake away from a star struck girl?

Her father is frowning down the table at her, probably because he did catch her liberating her sister's dessert, and well… while it hasn't been proven that sugar makes her worse, it hasn't been unproven either.

Hanabi finds it very very sad that no one has dragged Hinata out and presented her with a pile of food, _good_ food, and good people. The only way to eat your way into a coma is by having fun, and a _lot_ of unhealthiness. Hanabi at least has an excuse. Everyone she's ever worked with is a _boy_.

Hinata seems to have not known anything with this much starch and meat weighs like an anchor after consumption, and thus she will need to sit for a little longer because for perhaps the third time in her life, she's eaten more than she should have.

It's the perfect time to harass her, because she can't leave her chair, and everyone's in the way anyway.

At least she waited for everyone to leave before going into annoying mode. Her sister is at her elbow demanding she fold her napkin into a duck, and with no apparent intention of letting her get up until she complies. What is more unnerving is the fact that Sasuke also appears to be waiting. As it is unlikely he also wants a napkin animal, she can only assume he's waiting for _her_, and it's a tiny gesture she appreciates probably more than she should.

"Hiinata," whines Hanabi, dragging out the syllables of her name, "Is it—"

"Here."

Hanabi examines it with a pout. "It's a stunted crane. It's supposed to be a duck." Folding the neck and tail and saying it's a duck is _so _cheating.

"It is a duck."

"There is clearly something wrong with your eyes, Sassy-boy, because _that_ is a mutated crane."

Sasuke was and always will be a traitor. Where's the Team 8 solidarity? Clearly as things stand, he's just waiting for everyone to fall into some sort of well-meaning stupor, or another attack on the village, so he can run away again, and maybe find a supervillain that isn't into young boys.

ANBU surveillance might not be enough to keep him from setting them all on fire in the night. She's going to have to go to Plan Omega. Posting the training photos should be enough to round up some dedicated fangirls. Sasu-pon won't be able to leave his room without some rabid brunette somewhere knowing about it and contacting all her friends.

Vapid stupidity is the best place to hide great works of evil. How come no one else has figured it out?

Hanabi attempts to substitute his shoe with a fork. It doesn't work of course, but she is working on the finer points of the chakra control she needs. 'Sticking' her chakra on stuff that isn't alive without touching it is _hard_. All _genin_ can switch with those stupid logs, but the logs they provide at the Academy still have those little green leaves on them, so you know they're still somewhat alive. And if they're alive, they have their own chakra still flowing in them, slowly, weakly, but how else do you expect children to be able to resonate their chakra with them? The only reason _genin_ like the body replacement is because snapping the chakra for that half second swap is _fun_.

Sasuke picks up the fork and gives her that pointy look. A slight jerk of the head tells her to look down, and all she sees is a snake of his cornflower blue chakra heading for her foot.

Her sister's bare foot peeks up at her, lightly resting on the arch of the fork. She's sitting down, so it's no trouble at all for her to put no weight on it.

Hanabi glares at her stubbed toe, hiding inside the shoe Sasuke had been aiming for.

She's definitely going to kill him some day. He made her sister kick her.


	56. Danger Ahead

I HAVE INTERNETZ. the lack of an eighth chapter was bugging me.

* * *

56 danger ahead

Sasuke, for reasons unknown restarts the conversation with Hinata that she had interrupted. Maybe it's because she's the younger sibling, but it ticks her way off how easily the Uchiha commands her sister's attention. There's one fail-safe way to deal with stress.

Hinata is thinking of a counterpoint when she notices Hanabi making innocent eyes at the back of her father's head. She must have been at it for a while because Kou appears next to her.

"I want to go and buy snacks tonight," she announces, assuming that since her father can't deal with her right now as he's making nice, notifying the bodyguard will suffice.

"As a _genin_, you don't need to ask permission."

"I don't have any money," she states, clarifying the matter for him, as if he's just a bit of an idiot.

Kou looks to Hiashi's back. "Your father says you can ask your sister when she's done talking. She is better prepared and right next to you."

"But if I borrow from Hinata, I feel like I have to give it back."

"I believe that's the point, Hanabi-sama," Kou informs her.

Hanbai grimaces. "And I imagine he wants her to go with me so I don't buy too much."

"You perception, if not your business acumen, has grown sharper. Now, if that's all, I must accompany Hiashi-sama and Gin-dono."

"I think he's lying to me," mutters Hanabi to herself.

"And why so?" asks Hinata, having heard her name.

"I looked and looked, but I didn't see _chichiue_ telling him any of that."

"You think your father doesn't have every single attendant thoroughly drilled in dealing with you?" asks Sasuke, like his family never thought he was predictable.

Hanabi makes a very unladylike gesture at him, hand below the surface of the table. It's doubtful her father is looking below waist level.

"We're going to the market, _onee-sama_," says Hanabi, sugar sweet, pulling her sister away from the nasty Uchiha.

* * *

It's unthinkable, but true. Uchiha Sasuke is walking with them. Whichever idiot put the market in the direction of his house deserves to be taken out and hung. And they're still talking. Hinata hasn't even noticed how miffed she's acting.

Sasuke likes to play devil's advocate, Hinata's noticed. They're debating if mongering war could ever theoretically work for peace. He keeps switching opinions, casually, like it's natural he's disagreeing with himself.

Sasuke, personally, doesn't think anything could stop people from fighting. A clan couldn't contain its thirst for power. Hand a child a stick and he will use it. But poking the Hyuuga heiress into having an opinion has been entertaining. He's not sure how he's managed to pull her thoughts out of her, since she's been trained as a diplomat and a _ninja_. If she really didn't want him to know, he wouldn't.

He's not so far gone to offer to pay, Hanabi notes with some mix of disdain and relief.

"Bibi!" The wrinkled old man and his only somewhat smoother wife look up from rubbing salt into pig skin when their grandson calls her name.

"Dammit, Pin, that's _not_ my name," she growls. "It's _Hanabi_."

The boy, who looks only a couple years older than Hanabi and a couple younger than Hinata, laughs back at her. "Leave your venerable elders alone. Bibi is the only name they'll remember you by. You could use another, but we'll charge you extra."

"You charge me extra anyway," she gripes.

"Because you don't buy enough," he retorts.

"Too thin," rasps the old woman with her heavy accent. She pinches the flesh on Hanabi arm lightly after carefully wiping her hands. She mutters something unintelligible to her grandson, who blushes a little and goes back to cutting out ribs with renewed vigor.

"Going to tell me what she said?" demands Hanabi. Pin shakes his head and fairly runs into the back of the butcher shop.

"She said you ought to marry him. They'd feed you better." Somehow it shouldn't surprise Hanabi that Sasuke knows obscure dialects and has obscenely sharp hearing.

Pin nearly drops her food. Luckily for him, he doesn't.

Hanabi waits impatiently for Hinata to pay, and then does her level best to drag her bigger sister away.

Although he can sense the danger ahead should he go through with this course of action, he does it anyway.

"Want to continue that discussion tomorrow?" he asks, overly offhand.

The change spills on the road and Hinata stares at him in wonder before nodding. Hanabi glares daggers.


	57. Sacrifice

57 sacrifice

"_You don't have time for fun; remember the part where we're practically wiping some lord's ass for him?" Hanabi taps her foot._

_Sasuke gives her an amused look. "Remember the part where people are dead?"_

"_Whoever's knocking off the staff ain't enough to—"_

"_Hanabi, no matter your skill, you and your team are _genin_, and a targeted diplomat is not a mission given to _genin_." Hinata looks slightly disappointed she hasn't read the regulations._

"_Then how come they didn't take us off the first time?"_

"_Took them that long to figure out the three of us can't babysit the whole damn entourage." _

* * *

Her head itches. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail with a kitten face looking cute and evil. She isn't used to having her hair scraped back like raked dirt, and she's pretty sure she can feel each and every hair that does not appreciate being yanked from its natural path in life. The hair piece is about the only thing keeping her to her _incognito_ attire. She even has on sunglasses and sparkly pink lip gloss, though that just reminds her of that one time Ebisu had to sub in for Iruka-sensei. Served the jerkwad right. At least now he knew what not to say to a couple of teenage girls. And that he was totally a winter, though knowing his colors would not be nearly enough.

She doesn't know if this is worth the sacrifice of her morning and her hair. She did finally get to wear the awesome shirt her classmates got her and not worry about some auntie threatening to tell her father. She doesn't know what's so wrong about having a fluffy black cat on her shirt. It might have more to do with the 'plotting your demise' underneath.

Milkshakes and fries? Really? They're going to discuss the state and fate of the world as they knew it over fake strawberries and potato-flavored grease? Classy.

Almost as classy as the girls who knock their drinks all over Hinata in an attempt to make an opening next to Sasuke. It there hadn't been three of them and Hinata had had more options than jumping in Sasuke's lap, getting completely soaked in sugar water or twisting a few wrists and getting _Sasuke_ soaked in sugar water, then Hanabi wouldn't feel as pissed as she does. Although the sitting in Uchiha's lap is only preferable by a tiny margin to seeing her sister publicly humiliated. Unfortunately, she's in disguise and can not risk blowing her cover of uninterested, apathetic adolescent with attitude and neko-philia. Otherwise those floozies would be mopping up that mess on the floor with their hair.

* * *

"I'm sorry to cut our discussion short, but I'm going to have to go home and shower." And she truly does look sorry to cut their discussion short. It's possible her delicate Hyuuga sensibilities are offended by being a walking toothache.

Sasuke is half expecting she is just using this as an excuse to duck out of an argument she is losing.

"You're not making a strategic retreat, are you?" he asks, having more fun that he had intended mocking— talking to his teammate's sister.

"Unless you think wasps and ants would also participate in our conversation, I really should shower and change." She's not wearing white cotton, but she can feel the cloth sticking to her in awkward places.

Hanabi has seen Uchiha Sasuke checking out her sister. The sunglasses were not enough to filter out the unpleasant and now she needs to scour her brain. She knows she saw his gaze flick downwards more than once while her sister was talking. She's almost certain one of those times had the telltale flash of red that meant the _sharingan_ and maybe it shouldn't surprise her this was the closest Uchiha Sasuke was ever going to get to real boobs and he knew it.

"Buy a new shirt," he advises, under the guise of being patronizing.

She turns an interesting shade of red. "I only have enough money for lunch," she half whispers.

He looks disbelieving.

She squirms a little beneath his scrutiny, until finally she caves. "My… my purse was stolen on the way."

She didn't think it was possible for him to look even more unimpressed with her, but it's not the first time she's been wrong about Uchiha Sasuke.

"And you couldn't catch the thief?" He looks pointedly down at the handbag that is not his on the table.

"I-I did, just a couple of children," she stutters, "I just… gave them most of my money," she finishes weakly, aware of how silly she sounds.


	58. Kick in the Head

So maybe I shouldn't be trusting the Naruto wiki, because it's telling me Hinata weighs less than Ino, and um… I realize muscle weighs more than fat, but Hinata probably eats off silver and her daddy probably has gout so why she's underweight and that stacked makes no sense to me. I haven't been a hundred pounds since I was fourteen either, but I didn't have those tracts of land. I still don't. Oh well. I don't read shounen for my body image. Anyway. I'm supposed to be mentioning that I'm ignoring the stats I found online, and going with what makes sense to me. Because we all know Kishimoto has weird ideas about girls and their acreage. I don't have a penis, but I don't think 90 per cent of male thought process is devoted solely to it either. I could be wrong.

* * *

58 kick in the head

Hanabi isn't paying attention to the store, it isn't the kind of place she cared about, and the stray is convinced she is going to feed it. She can't tell what color it is beside 'dirty', but it stares up at her with one blue eye and one gold and a firm certainness about it that she is going to feed it. She can't even tell if it is a starving cat or a dying dog, and finding out seemed entirely too distasteful.

She drops the remains of her over oiled lunch down on the ground for it. The creature sniffs disdainfully and pushes away the soggy tomatoes and lettuce before daintily devouring the bread and meat. Definitely a cat then. Its mismatched eyes meet hers, but it walks away. Hanabi is a little disappointed it was only using her for handouts.

* * *

Hinata isn't sure who Sasuke is more annoyed with, her for being a victim or himself not being a completely heartless jerk. She had gamely grabbed a plain –boring- white button up, cringing on the inside, but Sasuke had given her a look, and told her since she wasn't giving it back to him, she may as well get something that didn't make her look like a boy.

She sorts through the pile of pastel colors, trying to be quick. Even boys who like her don't want to shop with her, and she can imagine Sasuke will have even less patience since he doesn't even— Well. He probably likes her less than cousin Kaoru, and _he_ had to deal with her and his sister trying to find something appropriate for their sister's wedding.

It's dismaying but she hadn't realized there were over a dozen chain stores that only catered to the Inos of the world. She glances at herself in the mirror, already a darker shade of red, and turns away to pull it off. She can only wear the largest shirts they have; the others are tight and make her look rather…

"Too trashy. You weren't planning on wasting my money on this were you?"

She hears a terrified squeak, and numbly wonders if her voice really goes that high.

He shouldn't have gone in while she was changing, but it sure as hell beat the swarm of girls who were more than willing to model for him. Subtle as a boot to the teeth. He noted with some malicious satisfaction that half the girls slavering had their tongues yanked back into their heads when they caught sight of who he was with. The other half did the same when they heard him _disapprove_. Sometimes, being him didn't suck as bad.

* * *

The children that have circled the cat have nothing to do with it at all. Six rocks have already been thrown; four have hit. She pushes the boy, hard as she can, before he draws his foot back enough to deliver a kick in the head. Hanabi may be skinny, but she is a _ninja_ and the boy goes down easily.

The others calculate how much a threat she could be. She throws a pebble at someone's hand, enough to bruise, and cocks her head. They leave her and her cat alone.

* * *

It's not quite as… flashy, which is good, although it's a terribly mature red, something Kurenai-sensei would wear. She didn't check the mirror; the salesgirl seemed ready to cry, Sasuke ready to maim, and she didn't like the looks the other customers were giving her, so she pulled it on and fled.

Her self consciousness is making her fidget, and she's sure she's irritating Sasuke, but she can't help but think the shirt isn't suited to her. It probably makes her look like a corpse. But he chose it, so she wore it. It's not that bad.

It doesn't take too long before she decides she likes it.

It's not the color of blood, fresh or dry or flowing, but he liked the color so he yanked it off the hanger and threw it into the fitting room. It's modest, thank the gods, there's no need to advertise him as a lecher, and it's simple, and he can't help but think she wears it well.

He concludes it wasn't a complete waste of money.

* * *

Now, the question is, is the cat the metaphor for Sasuke or for Hinata? Is it a metaphor at all? Is it just there because Hanabi needs a partner in crime? Or because clockwork has a need for fluffy things?

The world may never know.


	59. No Way Out

59 no way out

The cat is following her. She went out of her way to go the circuitous route, and the cat is keeping up. It even went under some woman watering her flowers, over a fence ten times its height and ignored the guy with a skewer of fishballs she tripped in the hopes it would go for the food.

The cat is determined to claim her. She wishes she knew what her father would say. Would make the arguing go in her favor faster.

When she gets home, she looks for the children of the maids. She recalls a cat making its home behind their complex, and the children had adopted a kitten from it. They should be able to clean off her stalker with minimal fuss.

She finds them in the shade behind the kitchen, where no one will see. Their sock-cat has at least three bows in his tail and is surprisingly laid back about it. They probably know their mothers will not have the same reaction to ruining perfectly good cloth.

"Hello there. Confetti candy for anyone who gives this a bath."

Her cat nudges the other curiously, not noticing until too late that it is surrounded.

-vovovovov-

She arrives in time to prevent an angry auntie from scolding her cohorts. She gives a bulging bag to the oldest boy, as she can trust him to share, and scoops up the shivering towel.

"Thank you. Girl or boy?"

"Tabi has a sister," announces the leader of the littles. Hanabi eyes the scratches on his arms. Good tolerance for pain in the name of duty. Probably make _jounin_ someday. She tosses his sister a jar of Hinata's hobby healing and tells them now they get to play doctor.

-vovovovov-

"Finished your mission?"

Hanabi looks guiltily up at her father, and then remembers looking guilty precludes being found guilty.

"What mission?"

"Whatever it is that had you up early and…" he eyes her attire with some censure, "discreetly following your sister."

Hanabi sighs; she always hoped to escape her father's keen senses, but one didn't become a figurehead to be reckoned with by relying on only one technique. Until she learns carpentry or flight, she will not be able to avoid squeaking the hall floorboards, no matter how quietly, and alerting her father. Conniving old man.

"Change in priorities." She holds her towel closer. At a _look_ from her father, she uncovers her cat's head, wet fur sticking out in clumps. She will be a fluffy cat when she dries, Hanabi concludes.

Hiashi debates allowing yet another walking hairball on the estate, as they all gravitate towards _his_ laundry. But perhaps there is some merit in allowing Hanabi her own private distraction. Cats can't fly yet, as far as he knows, so at least his daughter's mischief will be somewhat… localized.

"If you can keep account of it at all times, it can stay," he decides. "And don't let it claw the _shouji_ paper."

Hanabi bows her thanks, as is proper in response to patriarchal edict, and to hide her unholy grin. Neji is going to find his room a little… different than he left it.

* * *

There's no way out of this one. Sasuke curses silently. How had she trapped him in his own arguments without his noticing? It must be because she had never actually had to suffer through mad scientists. All her arguments were perfectly logical, ethical and displayed compassion and compromise and what a completely sheltered little princess she was. Maybe it was the shirt.

"They were either crazy or desperate or both to begin with."

"How does that improve their situation?" she asks.

"The crazy and the desperate somehow manage to survive a lot more often."

She must read something he doesn't feel in his answer. "Survival is almost meaningless. Besides, I doubt they survived very long after their… procedures."

Sasuke tilts his head in assent. "They didn't have _kekkai genkai_. They were essentially there so Orochimaru could perfect his technique. Even if they got through that, they were still canon fodder."

Hinata thinks it's time to change the subject, to one that doesn't dredge up bad memories and make polite company cringe.

"I take it you were removed from your assignment?" Well _obviously_. She can't believe her mind _let_ her ask such a stupid question. Sasuke doesn't look as aggravated as he could with her obtuseness. She's relieved; she doesn't want him to have any reason to avoid her.

"Yeah, Kakashi told us before dawn. Probably got the notification yesterday and was waiting for some damn inconvenient time to tell us."

Sasuke doesn't even realize he wouldn't have this much to anyone else.


	60. Rejection

And now, the mystery, for anyone who cared about it, has been solved and it's very anticlimactic, but you know, no one said every murder case ended with a bang. Some murders are just plain soggy. Bet no one really cared people were dropping like flies. It wasn't for very long anyway. No Sasuhina here, but well, plot furthering.

Hana means nose. I couldn't help it. I thought it made sense.

Cat is based on roommate's cat's cat. Pip was what, never going to weight more than five pounds fully grown? They called her an ipod (inky puddle of darkness), blended right in with the black foyer tiles, even without pulling her tail in. She was a ninja cat. It could just be because Rags weren't none too bright. But she was a devious little thing.

Eddie moment!

* * *

60 rejection

"Hi." Izumo looks slightly uncomfortable, like she might bite him. She might.

"You have a dog?" Hana examines her nails pointedly.

"Uh, no."

"Cat?"

"Um."

"Because you know if you don't have a damn good reason, I don't have to leave my business unattended." She pins him with the glare; the one that scares the patients, and occasionally her brother, into obedience.

"Visiting dignitary. And you'd be getting paid as a consultant." She is, for the moment, fully within her rights to hand him a rejection. If it were drafted as an actual mission, she wouldn't have a choice, but god knows how long it would take for the Hokage to do it.

"I'm giving you three hours of my time, that's it."

"Should be more than enough Hana-san."

-vovovovov-

"Both murders were accomplished close range, very personal right?" She sniffs thoughtfully, nose wrinkling a little. "The only real out of place thing I smell is hair goop. Less chemicals, so high end stuff. The fact that I smell it means it wasn't a pro job." She rubs the bridge of her nose and increases chakra flow. "The perfume is plant based, but not local flora."

The _chuunin_ who was sent off the second she said 'hair goop' comes back with a canister. She opens the lid and sneezes violently, hastily cutting off the chakra.

"Holy damn, no wonder I could smell that crap on a dead body. It's the same, are we done yet?"

"But… that belongs to Lord Ryuusuke, and—"

Hana shoots him a look, one with teeth, and he shuts up.

"I did what you told me to; you have some kind of probable cause. It's not like people _here_ use that stuff. Thank god. Go find someone _else_ to get the confession. Especially if the guy wears a lot of that crap."

* * *

"Hi there." Hanabi is a cute little thing and makes a fool out of Kiba every time she can. It's like having a little sister.

Hanabi has a suspicious basket with her, but Hana can smell the noxious hair goop every time she breathes in so she doesn't try to sniff out her secret. It won't be a secret much longer.

"Good thing my cousin went with your brother. Probably saved him from tripping over his dog at least twice by now."

"Small talk doesn't suit us barbaric _ninja_. What do you want?"

"You don't think I'd visit you without some ulterior motive?" Hanabi blinks back little puddles of long practice.

"You can't wait for the official report? It's only been a day since I was on your little crime scene."

"They called you in? Really? No one told me. Bet you found the guy within half an hour." Hanabi's attempts to get the story out of her are cut short by her basket having a seizure. "Oh right. I have a new client for you." She pulls out a little black cat from the depths of the basket and sets it on the table. "She followed me home and _chichiue_ is letting me keep her. Need to know if she has worms or allergies or a propensity to peeing in Neji's shoes yet."

Hana looks at the tiny fluff ball with some reservation. If it's a stray, it will not take too kindly to her smelling of dog.

-vovovovov-

"Really, Lord Pansypants? Didn't think he had it in him." Hanabi holds her nameless cat down while Hana does unknown things to her insides.

"You don't wonder _why_ he went and offed his retainers?" Hana readjusts the cat's foot for the fifth time and remembers why she prefers dogs.

"I can pretty much guess why. For the story. To be able to go back to the _daimyo_ and tell everyone he was the target of an unknown assassin that Konoha _shinobi_ failed to catch, but who luckily never managed to kill him. He'd be top of everyone's party lists for _months_."

"That's fucking ridiculous," Hana says flatly.

"That's court."

"I knew lords were crazy, all those cousins marrying, but—"

"People kill for money, food, basic survival… you think nobles are any different?" Hanabi's eyes darken for a second; it could be because her cat doesn't appreciate things being stuck in her ears and is trying to claw her way to freedom. "Those stupid parties and favors are— A barbarian like you wouldn't understand."

"Thank god for that."


	61. Fairy Tale

Cause it hasn't been a while. Some people want to know where the romance is. In reality, romance doesn't happen in five minutes. I got mine after half a year and I was still surprised when it happened. Romance isn't suddenly showing up, trying to sexually harass you and stopping because you say no. That's like common sense and good manners and not spending the night in jail.

* * *

61 fairy tale

"_Kunoichi_ kick butt."

"Who told you that?" Ino asks from under the counter.

"Hana. Is that really the secret password for your drug trade?" Hanabi snatches up her kitten before it ruins the Yamanaka livelihood.

"Herbs. Because apparently, unlike _boys_, girls don't enjoy pain." Ino appears, slapping shears on her palm, because feeling pain is different from administering it.

"Couldn't I just ask Hinata for this stuff?" Hanabi holds out the list Hana told her to mash up for her cat, to keep her healthy.

"If Hana told you to come to me, you can't. There are a lot of plants, like people, that don't thrive on fresh air and sunshine. Why do you think the password is child safe?" Ino's eyes travel the paper quickly, a wrinkle forming between her brows. She pulls a pencil from the jar and starts marking up the list. "Those you get from your sister, the rest we have to go to _my_ garden for."

Hanabi shrugs. "Not doing anything else today."

"Do you _have_ to bring the cat? It takes like five times longer if we _walk_."

"She's attached to me. Tell us a story."

"No."

"Then tell me about Sasuke. I don't get him, and I don't get his damage."

Ino pierces her with sapphire sharp eyes. "Fine.

"Once upon a time, there was a prince. Well, he wasn't a prince so much as he was _really cool_, but in the minds of twelve-year-old girls, the two are the same, so yeah; once upon a time, there was a prince.

"Being a prince, he had a kingdom, only it wasn't, it was a sprawling expanse of domiciles close together, all people sharing a name. So it would probably be more accurate to say he had a family.

"The kingdom, like most families, wasn't perfect. It was kind of dusty in some places, choked up with old secrets and older expectations which had spawned the need for those secrets. It was chipped too, from emotions that hadn't been able to remain trapped in that façade of perfect and really cool. There was some fire damage and a few cracks, because that's what happens when your kingdom is a family of _ninja_.

"The prince had an older brother, who he loved, because he was really _really_ cool, and good and nice and all the things older brothers should be.

"One day the prince came home to his kingdom, which was too quiet and too dark and too scary, but because he was a prince, and some day he was going to be cooler than his brother, he kept going, further and further in the scary dark quiet and wished he hadn't.

"So the prince forced himself to hate. He forced that hate to grow into an impenetrable fortress around him, so that he wouldn't be weak ever again. He trained hard, went and did great things, because he _was _really cool and strong, and so, kind of by association, the prince found himself with great friends and comrades that could be cool sometimes.

"The prince was anything but stupid, so he decided the best way to keep the bonds he'd formed from being torn away from him was to do the tearing himself. Luckily, it was about the same time that he got a better body and grew wings and took several killing blows and dealt a couple as well, so if anything hurt when he left his empty kingdom, he couldn't tell with the fractured ribs and all.

"Once upon a time, there was a prince. Only he didn't have a kingdom and no one thought he was really cool any more except for some really sketchy psychos, so the best way to put it is: once upon a time, there was a boy.

"The boy did some more great things that no one really acknowledged, but this time he didn't have great friends or comrades that could be cool sometimes, and when he slew the serpent, no one, nutjobs notwithstanding, seemed to mind all that much. He went on adventures, like any other knight in search of justice. There was the wench who meant nothing at all, a beast he could tame into a man, and that strange freak with the teeth no one has figured out yet. It didn't really matter to the boy, because he was a prince, and his ending was not going to be serving someone else. By the end of the story he returned, alone but a prince, to his empty kingdom and broken bonds and only one of the twelve year old girls was waiting.

"And so he lived. Not happily all the time, because you're not really alive if you're happy all the time. Not for ever certainly, because no one can live forever, not when there's so many people that like to go around proving other people can die pretty darn easily.

"But he lived, after."


	62. Magic

62 magic

Hanabi is amusing her kitten with a wand of flowering catnip. She loses concentration and the stalk when Hinata walks into the complex in The Shirt. She had left before her sister picked something out, so she's not feigning surprise at all. Although, her cat is absolutely _adorable_ as she terrorizes the greenery, shredding it with tiny claws so she can roll around in the carnage. But this is more important than her kitty's natural killer instincts, it is a _date_ shirt Hinata is wearing; romantic-evening-red that sets the Hyuuga pallor off as alabaster and not death, shirred neckline, not cheap or overstated; all in all simple. But she was walking around half the day next to the quietly annoying teammate in a _date shirt_.

Hinata is practically pleading Sasuke to stay put a minute so she can pay him back, because she knows if she lets go of his hand he's going to walk away into the sunset like some _hero_ in a movie, and it's like she doesn't _mind_ clinging to him like some worthless little chippie, and Hanabi is slightly disgusted but she can't look away. Like watching a snake swallow a live mouse whole. She glances at the massacre of leaves and feathery petals and wonders if she can't command her kitten to attack. Chew Sasuke's hand off or something. Clearly he's not all that attached or possessive of his hand, because it seems like _he_ doesn't mind that some heiress is trying to take it away from him. She could probably kick his ass if he only had one hand, Hanabi speculates. But that's not nearly as critical right now as the fact that there are strange forces at work and she's not sure she likes them.

Neither of them seem aware that this… this playfulness is breaking some unspoken law of the universe, and while Hinata should break a few rules now and then just to keep her sane, it's kind of offending how naturally she can do it _with Sasuke_.

* * *

Hinata stops dead and her face lights up like magic. But she hasn't let go. It sort of gets to him suddenly, that she's _glowing_ with happiness, and even though she's not looking at him, she's holding his hand. And then she isn't because some hairy white hurricane has knocked her back like ten paces and is pawing at her leg and barking excitedly. She looks at him apologetically, arms full of dog and says something he can't hear. It doesn't hit him until after he passes Hyuuga Neji and Aburame Shino looking distinctly worse for wear, that he knows how to read lips. Too bad he was paying less attention to her mouth than…

There's a pained whimper, and the last thing he hears puts a little grin on his face.

* * *

"Not this shirt!" Hinata pronounces definitively, staring down Kiba's dog like she only recently learned to Kiba himself. Akamaru is acting like she whacked him with a broom and then kicked him, when all she did was push his face, teeth and drool and all, away from her new shirt. "Where is Kiba?"

"Our teammate's thick skull has actually come in handy for once. Anyone except perhaps Naruto, that would have been a coma-inducing concussion." He looks down because he feels movement, and sure enough, a little black cat is crunching happily on a cricket. A natural, but unfortunate, characteristic of domestic cats, but not really unnerving until the girl's voice rings out and the cat _perks up_ and romps back into her arms.

"Good girl, you got it! Hunted it down and everything. Was it nummy? Such a good _ninja_ kitty." She looks at the three _nin_ at the gate with wide-eyed innocence that wasn't a complete lie. "She needs a name. I just got her today. Isn't she cute?"

Hinata looks amazed at this magical transformation from hellspawn to mostly normal little girl. Neji is looking as horrified as exhaustion and natural Hyuuga stoicism will let him. He knows his cousins, and both of them have the ability to subvert and convert anyone and anything. It's possible their mother had Yamanaka blood or maybe even Uzumaki, because they change people, willing or not. Hinata naturally uses her powers for good and Hanabi… for mayhem. Cat and girl are eyeing him, and it's not fatigue that makes him think at least one of them is plotting.

As Akamaru says goodbye to everyone, even the cat, before dragging him home, Shino contemplates the Hyuuga. Neji essentially fled to the safety of his room and order and respect for authority. Hinata is still in a kind of delighted shock to see her little sister acting like a child, like she never had a crush on anyone who used mischief to get attention.


	63. Do Not Disturb

I like Ino, and I identify with her, so she ends up sounding like me.

* * *

63 do not disturb

"I seriously think I'm losing here," Ino tells the pile of columbines. "And not just to Sakura. I mean, you know I'm over Sasuke and all, but still. They were walking around, together, Sasuke and Hinata. It was sooo cute, and she was wearing this shirt I was looking at last week, only in red not purple. Anyway, it's not as bad as it ever was with Sakura. I know we were twelve and sensitive and all, but sometimes I just hated her guts." She reaches over and adjusts the leaves. "Even if it _is_ Naruto, she had someone who liked her no matter _what_ she did. On what planet is punching your teeth half way down your throat cute? I dance on eggshells with _senpai_ at the hospital, because I don't want to get stuck cleaning bedpans but I don't want to get trapped into dinner either. And _she_ can slap him around, tell him what to do, not dress up and still he treats her like she hung the moon."

She looks down and realizes she's been pulling up a bald spot in the grass. The ants don't appreciate it much, and there are little red dots popping up on her fingers.

"You might know about Hanabi. Same class as Konohamaru 'cause she skipped a grade? She's all concerned about Sasuke and her sister. Sweet really. That's how twelve year old girls should view romance. Much less troublesome. Oh my god, I sound like Shikamaru. Speaking of," she turns and a flower smacks him in the face, "does a girl need a 'do not disturb' sign for a grave site? Because a _shinobi_ should be able to tell when that girl wants to be alone with the deceased."

Shikamaru brushes the damp petals off. "Your mother saw Hanabi on her way home but not you, so she sent me to find and remind you today is your night to host dinner."

"I was going to get the snacks on my way home. It's barely sundown, plenty of time to dinner. I don't know why she's worried. Like a _kunoichi _can't take care of herself in her own village."

He kneels down next to her, picks up her hands. "Maybe it's because you get so into things you forget about everything else." It puts pressure on a bite and her fingers twitch. She blushes a little in embarrassment and, classic Ino, covers it by twisting her mouth into an irritated moue and yanking her hands away. It's just a bunch of little wounds, but she needs her hands. She holds them out in front of her, forehead crinkling in concentration, and pale, pale green suffuses the air.

She resumes her conversation with her teacher while the tiny welts shrink and disappear. "Hanabi has a kitten. It's an adorable little dust mote. Much more practical than the baby deer _I_ once got for my birthday that I couldn't even keep. Bet you anything in the world Chiyoko would love it. Don't know where she got it though, so we'll hold off on bringing it to your place until she gets it thoroughly tested. You probably would have wanted a dog or a rabbit, something not temperamental, but kitties are cute, and little girls love them. Figures a shady looking character like you wouldn't know anything about little girls, and before you say anything I was a _genin_ and _not_ a little girl, although you didn't get me any way." Her eyes go dark and she clenches her newly healed hands. "I hope you were planning to shave before you held your child. Small fuzzy things: good, large scruffy things: not so much."

"Ino."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess I shouldn't be playing 'dear diary' with a guy who would pay for yakiniku almost every week in the hope I would eat and not talk." She pushes off the ground and starts to walk toward the market place. "I'm going to ask around, see what Sasuke and Hinata were doing today. You don't have to come."

"All our families are having dinner at your place. I'll carry Chouji's."

She gives him a bemused smile and then lights up, pointing behind his head. "Now that's a sky worth watching. Great backdrop for a date." She sighs and resumes walking. "I was thinking of stopping by that cake store. What do you think, one chocolate and one strawberry?"


	64. Multitasking

If you are at all familiar with Studio Ghibli, then you will probably know about the soot sprites, who are a-frickin-dorable and I want one. Susuwatari were in My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, the little round black things that skittered leglessly. I WANT ONE. Do all my heavy lifting, live in my backpack, which is about the same as an abandoned house, just have around to defy physics.

* * *

64 multitasking

"Are you really calling that furball Susuwatari?" Neji is feeling up to dinner with his cousins after a good long bath and an hour under Mayu obaa-san's capable hands. Hinata must have helped her make new oils, because this massage didn't smell as floral as the others. And people were always assuming he used his cousins' bath products.

"I can call her Susu," Hanabi argues back, "although I don't know what I'm going to do with her during missions. Would you like to train her?" she asks sweetly.

Neji gives her a sour look in return. "If it's training, no one's better than Guy-_sensei_."

"Hell. No. You are not giving my cat to a crazy person." She dares him to comment, and he ought to know a threat when it stares him down and has an accomplice in the kitchen. "So how was your day with Sasuke?" She's not calling it a date. And that's final.

"It was… it was good," Hinata decides, toying with a slice of _daikon_ and then busies herself with dinner, like her sister will leave her alone if she's eating.

Like a _kunoichi_ can really suck at multitasking. Hanabi feels her mouth puckering.

"Just good?" she presses. "You came home in a different shirt. Which means at some point during the day, you didn't have a shirt _on_."

Neji twitches slightly, like he's repressing the urge to jump up, overturn the low wooden table, and shake an explanation out of Hinata, or even better, race out of the complex and hit up the Uchiha place for his answers. But of course, being Hyuuga Neji, all that nervous energy translates into a little jerk to the left, like a fly took a big nibble on his ear.

Hinata chokes on her _daikon_, knocks over the cup of tea she was planning to clear her throat with, and then upsets the brazier in attempting to right the cup of tea. She doesn't know why the thought or mention of boys she likes afflicts her with sudden and debilitating ineptitude, but it really needs to stop. She didn't have any problems, save ruining her first shirt, while she was actually _with_ Sasuke, which is progress from blunt force trauma to the head of a hospital patient. But not a lot.

Hanabi finds it rather sad that she is the most well-adjusted member of her family. Deftly, she snatches the roast squab out of the way of danger, leaving the vegetables and the halibut to burn. Maybe she should get a tattoo. Or dye her hair. Something permanent. Just because. Maybe a duckling on her back, because she likes ducks and she likes yellow and she likes giving her family surprise heart attacks.

* * *

He and Naruto end up going to sushi in some seedy street stall because something about the day motivates a need for alcohol. Naruto doesn't mind that it's not ramen so long as Sasuke pays.

"Didn't see you at the training ground," Naruto comments, as if Sasuke hadn't noticed himself skipping on the mutual mutilation. "Tell me you were doing something fun."

"Define fun." Sasuke points to several things on the menu, since Naruto will end up comparing them to noodles anyway.

Naruto scratches his chin thoughtfully before arriving at an explanation. "Something that's not getting your ass handed to you," he says over Sasuke's muttered objections, "that's not grocery shopping, or hospital visits, or laundry that you do even though you don't absolutely have to."

Sasuke rolls his eyes and pours the _awamori_. He tastes it cautiously; it's new and not weak. He shoves the bottle and empty cup at Naruto, hoping maybe he'll know sarcasm or at least not to talk while he's boozed up. The sharp burn of alcohol doesn't faze the blond in the slightest and he drinks like it's as strong and as cheap as water.

"For the first time in my life I went out to lunch and had an intelligent conversation." Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Naruto mixing a huge lump of wasabi into his soysauce. He times his addendum. "With Hyuuga Hinata."

While Naruto freaks the hell out, Sasuke swaps the saucers and casually takes a bite out of his _tempura_.

"Oh shut up and sit down, it's not like I asked her to marry me. You going to get this jealous when I sit through the psych evaluation tomorrow?"


	65. Horror

As per usual, it's only the promise of things to come that make this story SasuHina. And as per usual, these chapters are not standalone, the point of the whole exercise is that they depend on the other three chapters that get posted along with it. So please read the WHOLE DAMN THING and save your questions. I don't like having to tell people HOW TO READ, but really, if I think the story is better told in pieces and out of order, who are you to question me?

* * *

To Sasuke's horror, Naruto, once he recovers from his several successive heart attacks, wants to know _more_ about what happened.

"You like her?" he interrogates, ignoring the food because this is more important, and if it's the end of the world, he's going to Ichiraku for his last meal.

"I don't like you, and here I am paying for dinner," he points out, helping himself to more _tempura_. "It just kind of… happened," he admits, quietly, in case someone more annoying than Naruto is around.

"But you like her enough to take her out to lunch," Naruto presses.

"You do realize she has fed the entire team almost every day she hasn't been on a mission, right? Besides, she paid for her own lunch." He conveniently leaves out the shirt incident.

"So you can't argue it was repayment!" crows Naruto. "You had lunch with her because you wanted to! Not because you suddenly had a need to return all the favors you've ever gotten. But if you are doing that, you owe me, your very best friend ever, _so_ much more than sushi."

Sasuke looks at him like he's… well… an idiot. "I hope you wake up with the worst hangover ever. That'll be my thanks for all the headaches you've given me."

"I saved your life! Lots!"

"I spared yours." Sasuke thinks a minute. "Wait a minute, how many of those times were because _I_ saved _you_ first?"

Naruto glares and grumbles that maybe they're even by now. He snags the last of the _tempura_ and dips them in his sauce. Sasuke calmly sips his drink while Naruto chokes and sputters and curses him out weakly between gasps.

Eventually he settles down and they sit and eat in a comradely fashion. Kind of.

"How's your new technique coming along? Leveled any more innocent trees today?"

"I'm going to kick your ass whenever you decide to man up and take it. You just watch. I'm going to be Hokage someday!"

"And I'll knit you a fucking scarf if you do." Sasuke drains his cup, and gestures for a refill. He probably shouldn't, since showing up hung over to a psych evaluation is not likely to go well.

* * *

Everyone says Yamanaka Hanae wears too much pink. She dismisses it, since it's not like she runs around in the forest making a target of herself in her favorite halter top. Her little cousin Ino wears purple nearly every day of the week and no one complains.

She lights incense and the smell of it permeates the room completely by the time the Hokage and the morning appointment arrive. He's cute, if a little young and a lot jerk. Or so Ino says.

"Just to make sure you get it, repeat it back to me," Tsunade orders, glancing over her clipboard.

Sasuke rolls his eyes but obeys. "The monitor is going to evaluate me as I answer questions to determine my mental stability and reintegration to Konoha."

"And try not to think," Hanae chirps as she brings cool fingers to his temple. "We don't care about the answers you think we want. I'm ready when you are."

"Let's just get this over with," he mutters.

"Why, so you can meet up with that cute little heiress?" He glares at her, and she shrugs innocently. "I said I was ready."

"How are your missions going?" Tsunade snaps her fingers to bring them back to task.

"Fine." Twenty seven pet missions and ten for the same damn cat, twelve weed patches, and the occasional escort job. They'd probably go better without the brat, but at least she's quieter than the other. Her sister's company is much –

"You work well with your team?"

"I guess." Naruto is figuring out how to work as a teammate and not just the fucking decoy/desperation move. The girl is learning not to rely on her family techniques like a crutch. Not that _he_ had much to improve on to begin with, but he might be getting better about underestimating his opponents.

"Even little Hanabi?"

"She's useful—"

"Hokage-sama!" Shizune slams the door open, looking like someone has eaten her soul. The effect is ruined by the seasick pig in her arms. "_I_ am supposed to be conducting this evaluation. _You_ are supposed to meet with the _daimyo_'s attaché regarding Lord Ryuusuke and—"

"Shizune, just breathe, you're only a _little _late. Hanae, if he thought anything bad about me during that, each one is a count of treason. Have fun!"

Tonton has recovered enough to pat Shizune on the shoulder while she hyperventilates.


	66. Traps

I don't answer questions. I'm a bitch like that.

* * *

When he arrives at the training ground, Hyuuga Hinata is pouring Naruto tea, like the guest of highest honor.

"Last time I went with _chichiue_ to visit one of my aunts in Tsuchi no Kuni. Came back, and there was a fricking _crater_ where my house should have been. Freaked the hell out of the cousins we brought back." Hanabi sniffs disdainfully as she sneaks her cat treats. "Clearly, I can't leave this place alone, but I'm afraid I must."

Hinata pats her head absently. "This year, father is going to Amegakure."

"He decided three years was long enough to thank them for rebuilding what they destroyed. Also because he's interested in their technology. I know he sent some of the uncles to help them with their little rebellions. Maybe he's going to try and marry off—"

"Hanabi!" Hinata's gentle demeanor never changes, but the force behind it reins her sister in. "We thought, given your connection to… the people, you might like to go? We'd pay you of course, it's just- You, like most of them, are an orphan of war, and you knew their leader and and… I'm sorry! Oh, I'll tell father you can't, I'm so sorry! I—"

"He wants to go." Sasuke smacks Naruto into his cold cup of tea. "He's trying not to cry."

"Is that what that is?" asks Hanabi snidely. Personally, she thinks it looks like that giant summon of his is trying to escape through his ass. Hinata might break her vow of nonviolence if she says that out loud though. Something about her team brings out the worst in her. She'd never talk about clan business if it was Shino or Konohamaru, even mockingly.

"Thanks Hinata!" Naruto finally manages to garble out through tea and mucous. He pulls her into a bear hug, completely unmindful of the mess he's making on her jacket. She looks uncomfortably frozen in place, slightly embarrassed by his very open displays of affection, something she should have gotten used to years ago.

"He's been meaning to go there for three years." Sasuke casually takes Naruto's seat and helps himself to lunch. "No hidden traps in that offer, are there? Aside from more time with her."

The sisters share a surprised look, like he can't try to help his 'best friend' when no one is threatening to kill them all.

"N-no, it's really just a gesture of peace and goodwill. The Hyuuga are in a unique position, being _ninja_ and nobility."

"And independently wealthy," adds Hanabi.

"It means Hokage almost always asks us to be envoys to other countries. As nobility it's a mark of respect, as wealthy _ninja_ we needn't take much away from the village's resources. It's not a mission it's a favor, so we don't receive pay."

"But we come out on top, because we're extending our own reach, and the Hokage owes us." Hanabi looks smug on behalf of whichever ancestor left their estate to their _shinobi_ offspring.

"Of course, not all of the caravan will be family. I understand facing a dozen Hyuuga has unnerved more than a few people in the past. The most important thing on these visits is diplomacy. Even more important than that—"

"Is showing them how happy Hyuuga can make them," Hanabi finishes. Her lineage is made up of devious, miserly old men. The climate of the land of Fire is such that it's perfect for livestock, like few other countries are. Making every child, main or branch, near or far, who showed any aptitude attend the Academy meant all the Hyuuga households were perfectly capable of protecting themselves and their assets. It allowed them to keep their trade relatively inexpensive, since they didn't pay for _shinobi_ and nearly none of the trade lines had ever been compromised.

Hyuuga are wealthy, deadly, blue-blooded businessmen. It is a pain in the butt that years of being so damn perfect mean they are elitist as hell, but Hanabi can at least be a wild child on the inside.

The point is, once they learned the blue-haired chick was effectively Amekage, and that she had promised to support _Naruto_ before she went back to restructure her country, they were dead set on including him. To the point that, if he agreed now, they were going to pay or supply another _ninja_ to fill the gap he left in Team 8, on top of covering for Hanabi.


	67. Playing the Melody

But even if I am a bitch, apparently I can write, else you wouldn't be at chapter 67 would you?

* * *

Grandfather insisted Hinata conduct it as the important business deal it was, so the aunties had shooed her out of the kitchen. She was perfectly capable of making a luncheon fit for the _daimyo_, but Hinata had never been very efficient at cleaning up as she went, spending all her attention on the food someone she liked would enjoy.

For lunchboxes made with last night's leftovers and a few small things, it wasn't much effort to include her mess in the general cleanup, but to have her make an entire meal from scratch, for a boy she had so much admiration for? She'd likely organize every grain of rice, try to cut the sea bream thinner than paper, choose the cow and kill it herself! And while she did all that, sauce would stick to the pots, blood would seep into the wooden cutting boards, knives and pans would pile up, and she wouldn't notice.

-----

Naruto couldn't tell the difference between braised or broiled, but Sasuke made it a point to know. He had to taste every element that was in it before he swallowed; Suigetsu called him paranoid, Karin said it was smart. Juugo took what was given to him, and always left a little for the birds.

Shizune asked him about that team from that life. The Yamanaka must have caught all five of the times they didn't piss him off. Of course she paid special attention to the team he has now. They're going to profile him, see what everyone in this life means to him, what he might do if he couldn't save them. They put him with the girl for a reason. More than just that balance of power shit Kakashi mentioned at the beginning. They know he can't help but see his life in hers, a constant reminder of all that he lost and all that he gained.

Hanabi loves her older sister, and Hinata loves her, and if she ever had to make those choices, Sasuke has no doubt she would do it the same way his brother did. And Hanabi would still love her.

He doesn't know what they are looking for when they read his thoughts, he's not supposed to. Like a dance, Shizune was just playing the melody, and the blonde watched where he wandered. He can't catalogue the feelings that well up when he thinks of his brother, and he seriously doubts Information can, but they will try, and maybe they'll get something close.

He thinks he's ready. He's pretty sure the Hokage agrees; he only had ANBU on his ass for a week before he was finally allowed to see Naruto. Naruto could not wait to show him everything he learned while Sasuke had been away. It was purely showing off on Naruto's part, but it was clearly a message from the Hokage. This is what he learned to drag your ass home. You won't even smell the bat shit before he takes you out and takes you back. We don't need to waste personnel when we can just leave you with him.

Naruto only said that it was about fricking time and punched him in the mouth. That he took the long way, but they'd both inherited the will of fire, so how could he not be here?

He said it was a secret, but Kakashi had refused to be anyone's successor, much less Tsunade-baasan's until all his cute students had safely become _chuunin_. Just to be sure, Naruto hadn't gone to the _Chuunin_ Exam since he left, so Sasuke owed him big time. Sasuke set his sleeve on fire.

-----

"Introspection makes you look constipated." Hanabi waves a hand in his face, Naruto laughs at the comparison, dislodging an angry dustbunny from his knee. "Did your psych eval suck that much?"

"Most likely. The barely restrained urges to kill you probably counted against me. It'll be your fault if I can't participate in the _Chuunin_ Exam, and you can't find a third."

"I bet you I could find someone better. Besides, I don't think you're allowed to leave the country, even if the _daimyo_ does like you enough to pay your rent." She picks the ball of lint up and buries her face in it. "This is my Susuwatari."

"Is that why you stopped stalking me yesterday?"

She kicks his knee and drops herself down next to the dessert spread.


	68. Hero

You know that fourth wall? I knocked it down for a bay window. Less than subtle ironic commentary going on in this chapter.

* * *

"You think he'll agree?"

"Of course," mutters Hanabi because it's too early in the morning. "Not even Uzumaki Naruto is stupid enough to turn down the chance to parade around pretending like he's some sort of hero." She hisses in pain when Neji clamps a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look she can't quite read.

Hiashi must have expected as much since his expression doesn't change, but his next words make all three tense in surprise.

"Hanabi, you're going with me."

His youngest begins to open her mouth but clamps down on whatever expletives she might say. A sign she is maturing somewhat, though he still wants to know who she heard such vulgarities from. She is, like all budding youth, learning that age and experience bring more than just colorful language to swear by.

"Isn't it a bit insulting, _chichiue_, to bring the second daughter and not the official heiress?" she asks with distinct bite and perfect manner.

"Konan-sama is a remarkable woman. Very capable. Even after making reparations in several countries, she had the means and the management skills to set up an orphanage and school of sorts, for victims of violence. A good number of her beneficiaries are your age."

"I hardly consider myself a victim," she gripes.

"Bringing you there will be a sign of the Hyuuga's approval," explains Naji curtly. "It's subtle, but I doubt it will be lost on Konan-sama."

Hanabi makes faces at him while her father waits for Hinata's opinion.

"Victims of violence?" she queries softly.

"Orphans of war or _nuke_ _nin_… I understand she intended it for those small countries where the government strains under every financial burden and for border villages that rarely receive the attention of their lords." He catches the look in their eyes. "She's not _asking_ for the children of fallen _shinobi_, if anything she's made it clear she will take whomever they send, _ninja_ family or not. She'll get them, certainly. She used the… her information network and presented a series of cases from the last twenty years of tragedies that could have been prevented by the kind of institute she proposed." He represses a tendril of jealousy that the Akatsuki connections surpass the Hyuuga. The Hyuuga though, are still quite efficient. "I'm told she was freely given copies of Konoha's mission reports, and from those she gathered quite a lot of information."

"Is that another reason she likes Naruto so much? Because so many of those sob stories were reported by _his_ team?" Hanabi has read piles of mission reports in the Academy. Hinata and Neji never had to, but some genius somewhere theorized that better prepared _genin_ would mean (a) higher survival rate and (b) more _genin_ that could be _chuunin_. And so every month the class deconstructed a mission report, figured out how and why events happened as they did and what might have been done better. The first months after she was assigned to Team 8, her time out of trouble had been spent going over all the reports filed by Kakashi's Team 7. She wondered then, and wonders now, how it is people feel compelled to give their life story to Naruto when it's time and effort that might be better spent trying to kill him.

Hiashi presumes those to be rhetorical questions and keeps his focus on Hinata. "Since this trip will take two _ninja_ from the team, I could hardly refuse the Hokage's request. She's asked that you, Hinata, be part of Team 8 for the duration of absence."

"D-did she say why?" Hinata asks faintly.

Hiashi frowns slightly, unwilling to really think about what Tsunade had said, and what it implied. "She said Hatake Kakashi indicated he had a good rapport with his teammates, and you. Likely because of all the time you spend keeping an eye on your sister. I believe she scheduled a psychological evaluation to test the waters, so to speak."

"I-I understand. I would be deli-honored to." She hopes desperately her face isn't betraying her sudden lack of calm. Hanabi is certainly making an effort to prevent exploding in a temper.

* * *

"Think you'll survive without us?" Hanabi asks Sasuke when she has a collection of sweets in front of her.

"I'll manage," he replies dryly, as Naruto throws an arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, us two? We've done things straight out of stories, the stuff of legend!"

"We have done the impossible," agrees Sasuke, shaking his friend off.

"And that makes us mighty," the blonde concludes solemnly. "Mighty frigging awesome!" he declares in a return to character.

* * *

Joss Whedon is my hero, right next to Catwoman, the original DC purple one. "We have done the impossible. And that makes us mighty." is a line from Firefly, one of the best TV shows of all time, and I strongly encourage all ten of you reading this to watch it if you haven't already.


	69. Annoyance

OMG that took for effing ever. Probably because I was procrastinating. Eh. I did the Penelope piece, which I liked even if no one else does. I heart Konan.

* * *

"They weren't all that special; the three of us could have taken out seven all at once, but there was ten of them, so we had to wait. Anyhow, whatever they had done let them keep track of each other, and they'd split up and go in different directions for a while." Kiba fans the peanuts out around three salted plums. "And of course we tried to thin the ranks," the prunes choose and chase a peanut, "the bastards would regroup and _try_ to take the closest out," the peanuts pile together and surround the pursuing prune. "Given we'd met up by then, they ran away some more. And they kept doing this for weeks. It was a pain in the ass."

"We let them survive the earlier encounters so we could take them all at the end, of course it took longer to run them into the ground," intones Shino.

"Hey, you just had to put a bug on yours. Akamaru had to hold it in until we rumbled and he could get a good shot, and that's _distracting_," Kiba counters. Akamaru whines his support.

"Surely there's a more efficient way to… mark your targets," is the scathing rejoinder.

Hinata sweeps Kiba's demonstration into a napkin serenely. Years of working together have led to a loud kind of harmony that doesn't bother her any more. Akamaru looks up at her hopefully, curled as he is around the base of the table.

"Hinata, don't even. No dog of mine _begs_. Anyway, you gotta train Neji, man can't expect rations to last forever," Kiba says seriously. "He got food poisoning like twice. Even without Akamaru, I know the difference between pokeweed and currants."

"I'll keep that in mind. I have a good book he can look through." She looks thoughtful for a second and adds, "Hanabi too."

"How is the little weed doing?" inquires Shino solicitously, making use of an old comparison of the Hyuuga sisters. But Hinata isn't a hothouse flower any more, like Hanabi isn't a sprout that thrives by being as annoying as… Well it's only half useful now. "Not expecting to take the Chuunin Exam in her first year like we did?"

"I think she has a grand master plan to stall until it's in Konoha or Suna, and then pass it on the first try." Hinata's eyes go clouded and her voice distant. "She's trying to avoid being compared to me. "

"She's got quite the team." Kiba leans back on his stool easily. "Seems like just yesterday she was calling me a booger-brain and trying to pull Akamaru's tail."

"Actually, just yesterday she wondered out loud why your father hung around long enough for a second child."

"Sasuke!" peeps Hinata in surprise as the last Uchiha slides casually onto the empty seat between the boys.

"What the hell, Uchiha?" Kiba demands. There's an answering growl from around his feet.

"She doesn't like the smell of wet animal." He waves away the waitress. "Not a private party, is this?"

"I figured you were here for the cat." Kiba relaxes marginally, since he doesn't appear to want trouble.

"What cat?"

Shino points up to the shelf with the shrine. There's a twitching twilight tail that doesn't belong to the calico _maneki neko_ waving its paw. Two amber eyes stare regally back at the silly humans and the dirty mass of canine inferiority.

"My target's at the back." He subtly indicates something over Hinata's shoulder. She knows better than to look. "His boyfriend is worried he's cheating, but hoping he's organizing a surprise for his birthday."

"And you're getting paid for that?" Kiba mocks. "So glad we don't have to do anything less than B-rank missions anymore."

Sasuke mutters something that sounds like 'spoiled', but his eyes are following movement. A brunette in green is going to the counter to pay for his meal. He's trying to watch their table without being noticed.

Kiba scratches the bandage on his head in annoyance because none of them can think of anything to say while Sasuke's target walks out the door.

The Uchiha counts to sixty silently, standing when he's done.

Hinata's hand snaps out and presses his to the table. He glances at her, unsurprised to see her bloodline activated.

"He's watching the door."

"Apparently you suck at sneaky."

"Or he was being checked out."

"He's moving, but still watching," Hinata reports faithfully.

Sasuke doesn't look at the Inuzuka telling a completely indifferent Aburame that the Uchiha heir shouldn't require help on a D-rank. His attention remains with Hinata until the veins around her eyes shrink.

"He's going west. Hanabi is on the rooftops." She notices her hand and whips it back to the safety of her lap. "G-good luck," she offers shyly.

Her teammates stare at her as Sasuke takes his leave.

"She hasn't been that color in over a year," Shino says finally.

"More like two," claims Kiba.


	70. 67 per cent

I don't know why I was trying to psychoanalyze Hinata. I mean, I doubt much thought went in to her, so what I thought I'd get out of it escapes me. Oh well, I tried, even if it reads like OOC, at least I took her seriously.

* * *

Kiba was fidgeting like he had something he _needed_ to say, at a volume that might blow out the glassware. They ended up walking to the training ground so that, if necessary, Kiba could knock over a tree or five while collecting his thoughts.

"Hinata, you have a problem," he tells her bluntly.

"And what's that, Kiba?" she asks politely.

"You don't think you deserve love, so you want the guys who are _never_ going to give it to you."

Shino and Hinata gape at him, as much as their ingrained masks allow them.

"That's not true!" she protests. "Is it?" She turns beseechingly to Shino.

"I get it, you were stuck actually reading a book because there was a cute girl around," is all the other can say.

"Hey, this isn't about me. It's about Hinata, who looks for approval and shit in _all_ the wrong places. And when she doesn't get it, it just validates her crap opinion of herself."

"I-I have my family's support now!" she insists uncertainly. "As for Naruto I-I—"

"Hinata, Kiba couldn't spell psychoanalysis if his life depended on it. There's no need to pay attention to what _he_ thinks is happening." He angles himself between them, like he's confronting Kiba or protecting Hinata, he's not sure.

"Screw you, she's _sweet_ on the Uchiha," he hisses because Shino is completely not getting it. He stops short as the realization dawns that Shino _does_ get it, but not what he's supposed to. "You knew!"

"You did?!" squeaks Hinata in shock, hands flying to cover her cheeks, as if to stop her thoughts from announcing themselves on them in bold brush strokes.

"Neji and I arrived at the end of your… outing with Sasuke the other day," Shino reminds her over his shoulder. "Also, Ino-san has an unfortunate habit of begging for information the second she spies a likely candidate; in my case, the top of her lungs from across the street." He turns to Kiba. "You had a concussion and I had to walk your dog. I opted not to prolong your stay in the hospital." He gestures vaguely, like this should explain everything, two thirds at least.

Hinata seems to be having several successive mental seizures, so he waits for Kiba to figure out the question that's stuck halfway between his mouth and his brain.

"Outing?!" he finally manages after a number of false starts. "She went on a _date_?"

"Didn't!" she says immediately. "At least… I don't…" Her fingers curl and a little smile tugs at one corner of her mouth. "It wasn't a date," she concludes, and years of working together give away the wistful tone. Kiba has no difficulty catching it.

"Why can't you have _healthy_ relationships with men?" he demands in exasperation.

"I have you two," she says with no uncertainty, prompting Kiba to swing an arm around her shoulders and ruffle her hair.

"You're over Naruto, right?" he asks with his usual coarse kindness.

She nods confidently. "Helping Kurenai-sensei was cathartic for me too."

The other two nod in a boyish attempt to convey they understand. The three of them have an agreement not to speak about how unstable their teacher was, pregnancy, post partum, months and months after Asuma died. Ino finally threw all the boys out and insisted on a night for just the girls, to get over their ghosts. Even the living ones.

It was a start.

"So you like Sasuke."

"A little," she admits.

"You have sucky taste," is all Kiba says on the matter. "But not as weird as that pair of sisters that were trying to sneak into Shino's bed. They were hot."

"I'm sure they were both drunk." Both his teammates note he's just a little tenser than he was a second ago. Possibly pinker too.

"Shino's a very nice man," says Hinata loyally.

"They owned the hotel, saw him for ten minutes tops. He dresses like a hoodlum!"

"I'm not even going to bother pointing out how that sounds coming from you."

"Girls are supposed to dig the dog, right?" Kiba shakes Hinata a little desperately. "Having the puppy made me more approachable, right?"

"Um…"

"I'm going. I enjoyed lunch." Shino takes a few steps before throwing down his last card. "One of them wasn't a girl."

"Wait, what? One of the… which one?!" Kiba gives her a quick hug and runs after their teammate, wanting to know how Shino could keep this from him. Akamaru does his worst to her face and shirt before bounding after Kiba. She wipes futilely at the wet patches before giving up and heading home, with a lightness that permeates every cell of her being. It feels good to know at least Shino and Kiba will support her through another silly decision.

* * *

For those of you who don't math and like it, two thirds is 66.6666… per cent, which does indeed round to 67. Which I assume was the original purpose of this theme, since that's a one out of one hundred shot at being completely arbitrary. Handily, boys are two thirds of every team ever. Math win!

I thought I'd get the brotherly approval out of the way. Hinata does seem to thrive on approval, so I figure if even one person she likes/respects can back her, she'd do anything. see: chuunin exam prelims


	71. Obsession

Avoiding homework. It kind of shows, doesn't it?

* * *

Sasuke only has to wait for ten seconds before Naruto casually strolls past. They walk together, a long lazy stride that swallows distance without being hurried.

"I feel so violated," mutters Naruto, because silence is lead with him. He doesn't even wait for a response, not that he'd have gotten one anyway. "That guy was hitting on me in the bookshop."

"He probably took offense at the orange."

"Well I think he wanted my opinion on candlelit dinners for completely the wrong reason," Naruto huffs.

"You're famous; maybe he was just being polite," Sasuke offers uninterestedly

"Hey, polite people don't stare at—"

"Shut up." They slow down and disappear to the roof of a grocery store.

Hanabi is waiting, her eyes on the alley way where their target is loitering. She spares them a glance when they arrive and goes back to watching.

"You should probably go," Naruto suggests quietly.

"Why, because I don't know what happens when a man loves a man very much?" she shoots back just as softly.

"He could just have an unsavory habit." The man sneaking around the entrance is known for peddling mushrooms. Sasuke has threatened him for information before.

They complete their transaction quickly; Naruto slips down the other side of the building the second money exchanges hands. He's an easy five paces behind the target when he reenters the street.

"Went through all the trouble of hanging around until he'd be nearly done with his lunch, and he was waiting for you," Hanabi reminds Sasuke as they jump to the next roof.

"He was staring when I came in. He didn't stay behind that long."

"Why do I get stuck with high-profile teammates?" she grumbles, like she isn't an heiress. At least her family tries not to spread it around. Part of that 'element of surprise' bit. "You two slow everything down."

Sasuke doesn't bother pointing out that if _she_ were in the street, people would be asking if she was lost, which would cost more time than avoiding the admirers.

"But you met up with my sister. Must have been nice, since you have that weird obsession with her, don't you?"

"No." He's been and done too many things to let a twelve year old girl get a rise out of him.

"Run-of-the-mill, every day obsession then?" she snips.

* * *

"Well, Day One was a bust," Hanabi blows at her ramen. They left off trailing the target when he started work. "How long do we have to follow him?"

"The birthday's next week," says Naruto between slurps. Hanabi groans into her soup. "But we need to see if he's having an affair."

"I doubt they're any Vega and Altair." Sasuke's teammates stop eating to stare at him. "Y'know, the two stars at Tanabata—"

"I know what they are!" they both object.

"Didn't think you'd ever make such a… romantic comparison, Sasu-pon," finishes Hanabi.

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "The point is they'd meet at least once before then."

"I doubt Vega was such a floozy, though." Naruto nods thoughtfully, chopsticks stuck in his mouth. "That guy was staring at anything with a… you know. Wouldn't surprise me if he _was_ cheating."

"What lazy students." All three turn to look at their teacher, leaning against the wall by the entrance. "Are you all ready to start the mission?"

"We're done for the day. He's at work."

"You know, most adultery is committed with people from the work place."

Hanabi flicks a piece of paper at Kakashi. "He's a bartender at some civilian dive. They hire _genin_ to do _genjutsu_ checks. No special treatment for _ninja_, none of us can get in. But you can."

"Better hurry," Sasuke adds as he picks up his bowl. "Dinner time is just about done."

"Well. Might catch the tail end of happy hour. Good job, see you tomorrow." Kakashi disappears with a cheerful wave goodbye.

"Can you believe Obaa-chan wants him to succeed her?" mutters Naruto as he peruses the menu for seconds.

"Jealous?"

"Heh! Pork ramen, Ayame-chan! At the rate he's going senile I'll be in office before he realizes he's been _made_ Hokage."

"I'm moving to Suna when you do," declares Hanabi.

"Why, so you can hit on that guy who almost married your cousin?" laughs the blond. He avoids her hand easily, leaving her swiping at air. "Didn't your family teach you how to behave at the table?"

She kicks at the legs of his stool, but he's too heavy for her to do anything without destroying the furniture.


	72. Mischief Managed

Cats should be smart. It's probably because I'm a Selina Kyle fan.

* * *

Hanabi returns home to her cat trotting out to meet her. The littles are playing tag in the lantern light, under the watchful eyes of their sock cat and Hinata. She's helping the smallest make crowns of moonflower.

"Did you have a good day, Hanabi?"

"As good as can be expected." She scoops up her cat, who offers no resistance despite being here less than a week. Susu is definitely no ordinary kitten. She wonders if maybe there's _nin-neko_ in her lineage. "You?"

"Kiba's fully recovered. We went out for lunch, and that was pretty much my day."

Hanabi eyes her sister obliquely. There're no outward signs of anything unusual, just a kind of looseness to her body. If today's encounter with Sasuke wound her up any, it's gone now, so it must not have been very important. Hanabi nods to herself and heads inside.

"Oh, Hanabi! Kiba mentioned something this afternoon, and I thought it was a good idea. Come by my room later."

"'kay. Did anyone feed Susu?"

"She stole from _Tabi_-Cat," announces the leader.

"Mama says it was because the other cats picked on her when she was small," defends the oldest of the girls, who are all probably more than familiar with the feeling.

"Not being picked on now!"

"I'm sure Susu will learn what's hers and what belongs to _Tabi_-Cat soon," soothes Hinata. "She's a very smart kitty." She gives her sister a piercing look. "A very smart kitty, she managed to push open a medicine cabinet and so there's a roll of bandages all in shreds."

"So I can't wrap my wrists tomorrow? No big deal. Why are you looking at me like I ordered her to do it?"

"Because it wasn't _our_ bathroom she got into. It was Neji's."

Hanabi has to bite her lips to keep from laughing. "Right. Well, that's what he gets for leaving the doors open."

It might be the evening light or her imagination, but her cat looks quite pleased with the mischief managed while her human counterpart was away. It's not her imagination that her cousin gives the both of them a dirty look when they pass each other in the hallway.

* * *

"So what is it you wanted?" Hanabi asks the second she sticks her head in. Hinata clears a space on her desk and fishes out a worn book. Hanabi wastes no time perching herself on the free seat.

"This is for you. You should have a basic knowledge of botany, if only to avoid living on cardboard during a long mission."

She flips through it, noting how well kept it is despite lots of use. A little black paw tries to rectify the situation.

Hinata finds an old calculation and crumples it up. Susuwatari looks disdainfully at the offering and tries to chew on page 74.

"It's also useful if you ever need to improvise a poison or delaying tactic." She picks up the wriggling cat intent on ravaging her book.

"Don't tell me dog-breath came up with this sudden concern for my wellbeing during his concussion."

"Kiba is an excellent _shinobi_, and he does like you," is all Hinata is willing to say. Hinata is quite familiar with Hanabi's knack of sensing when she's not being forthcoming, but it's not like she _knows_ it would cost Neji some dignity.

"That all you talked about during lunch?" she queries casually.

"Pretty much. There was some discussion about your mission when Sasuke showed up. But I'm sure you saw some of that while you were watching the target."

Hanabi makes a face. "His body language was louder than his voice. Didn't need to lip read much. He's not the only one." She fixes her sister with a marble stare.

Hinata jumps a little in her seat, giving the cat in her hold enough room to twist free and attach herself to Hanabi. She glowers at the bigger human and knocks the paper ball off the table with her tail. Her head snaps, following it as it rolls on the floor. She pounces.

"Oh?" Hinata says after the pregnant pause.

Hanabi doesn't actually have anything; Hinata doesn't usually call her bluffs. It surprises her, so she decides to cut her losses and slides off the table.

"Thanks for the book." She steps into the hallway. "You give one to Neji yet?" She grins at Hinata's expression. "Sasuke lost a bet with Naruto, so we made him treat us to dinner and actually talk. Nighty night."


	73. I Can't

Been a while. Playing excessive amounts of OdinSphere. Shika's seiyu is a frog with attitude (sometimes). And Sasuke's dub VA is a bunneh(most of the time). Those bunnies have a huge scam going. I bring them recipes and ingredients and then I have to pay them to cook it for me. Like, are you sure it was the corpse that ruined your nation and not your sucky business manner? Anyway, I shall face Armageddon armed with napalm and brownies. Biatch.

* * *

73 I can't

"This is such a waste of my talents," gripes Hanabi, because the weather promises rain and the current mission promises to be no less inconvenient. She _should_ be preparing for her trip, because who knows what nonsensical things the maids or even worse, her _father_, will deem necessary and what very essential things will be left behind. And she still needs to figure out what to do with her cat.

The only potentially good thing about the whole affair is that she won't be stuck spending New Year with the "important" family, which apparently means the ones that might not survive to next year but are still under the impression they run the house. Between New Year and the traveling she almost forgot about her sister's birthday, which has been deemed trivial in light of the other things. Hanabi thinks Hinata's okay with it. Or she would think so if she could get her mind off the fact that this mission sucks.

Sasuke and Naruto are giving her _looks_, like they'd disagree if they weren't trying to be grownup and mature and above reacting to such adolescent statements of fallacy.

She sticks her tongue out at them and her thoughts turn back to how grateful she is that she won't have to help clean the house for New Year's. As if good fortune cared there was dust under the rug.

* * *

"The usual New Year's arrangements, Hyuuga-san?" Ino's mother wipes her hands on her apron before reaching for pen and paper. Ino is holding a bucket of water for Shino's grandmother while she toddles around the shop selecting flowers and dropping them in.

"Actually my father and sister are traveling so…"

"Two less _ikebana_ arrangements for us to do? Wonderful. Where are they going, if I might inquire?"

"Ame."

"Tell them to bring lots of socks," advises the Yamanaka matriarch. "They avoid using wood because the wet leads to rot. And the floors are awful on bare feet. Everything is tall too, so there's little to no rain on the ground level but it means using the stairs a lot. Anything in particular you would like as the focus in your flower arrangement?"

"The orchids, mama! We'll have willow branches and lotuses in two days, Aburame-obaasan, promise. I think these will go beautifully with the cosmos—"

"Oh yes, I think the orchids will appeal to you." She's already arranging it in her head while her eyes lock onto her other customer. "Ino, those are a day away from blooming, use those buds… no, next to that."

Hinata thinks she should be used to the mental juggling acts Ino and her mother pull by now. Ino can stuff three problems in the back of her mind, gabble on about five other things for a while and have an answer for all of them by the end of half an hour. She has no problem acknowledging they might not be the best solutions, but she declares it's easier to tweak a decent plan than it is to make up a good one on the spot and she'd hate to be a prettier version of Shikamaru anyway.

Ino skips over while her mother more sedately switches places.

"So what are you going to do with your Sasuke-time?" she asks immediately.

Hinata freezes, but that's not a useable reaction. Ino pouts. "I can't believe you haven't been thinking about it. I mean, Naruto and Hanabi are going to be gone for at least a week if not two, and Kakashi hardly counts so you have Sasuke pretty much all to yourself! And maybe a couple easy missions. You should wear something sexy on your birthday."

Hinata doesn't know what kind of gossip goes around the Information department, but she suspects only half has to do with the people in it. When her mind finally shakes off its stupor, she bids a hasty goodbye to Ino and runs like hell. She doesn't need Ino planting ideas in her head like so many daisies. It's not like any of them would work.

Ino's pout deepens when Hinata flees, but disappears when Shikamaru narrowly avoids colliding with the escaping heiress. He nods a sympathetic greeting as she turns the corner.

"What'd you say to scare her off like that?" he asks, setting Ino's lunch on the counter.

"She refuses to accept that she and Sasuke almost have a thing," the blonde whines, wasting no time investigating the delivery.

"Maybe because they don't," he offers prosaically.

"Are you kidding? He actually relaxes his guard around her. Do you _know_ how huge that is? Of course you don't, there's no point in even asking. How come there's chicken in my _gyoza_?"

"I brought you lunch when I didn't have to, why are you so troublesome?"

* * *

OMG ShikaIno vibe! More sense than ShikaTem if you ask me. If there is canon evidence, that just means Kishi has no idea how the real world operates. Women with ambition and drive do not shackle themselves to deadweight. And if they do, something changes drastically, and it's either the 'couple' status or the man, but I don't see that happening for Shikamaru. Strong confident women are not charmed by molasses however impressed they might be with its IQ.

Besides, what do _I_ care of canon?


	74. Are You Challenging Me?

You may believe I gift Hanabi with an overabundance of intelligence and awareness, but I don't think so. Children of wealth and nobility throughout history have learned language and dance and seemly pursuits and even the state of the empire as soon their parents saw fit to have them taught. You need not like something to excel at it. It helps though.

* * *

74 are you challenging me?

The fourth day of proxy-stalking is cold and wet and windy. The three of them had every intention of only waiting two minutes for Kakashi. Since their mission is easily conducted under roofs as well as on them, the report from last night would likely not be worth the soaking wait. Unfortunately their teacher was struck by a sudden consciousness for the time. Or lightning. Either way he's waiting for them in the driest spot available, and makes them listen to every detail.

Despite the hand-me-down parka Hanabi's hair is plastered uncomfortably to her skull by the end of it. Even Kakashi's crop of grey is drooping.

"Terrible weather—" their teacher starts to say.

"Yeah awful, we're going."

His cute students are off like rabbits with the hounds of hell at their heels even though he's still talking.

"—we're having. I bet even Guy wouldn't be running on a day—"

He is interrupted again by a youthful yell. Sasuke, Naruto and Hanabi don't look back.

"My eternal rival! Are you challenging me? Gladly will I accept, for rarely are you so moved to acknowledge the burning competition…"

"I kind of feel bad for your cousin," Naruto says as the three of them race up the side of a tree.

"He's over it." Hanabi dismisses his concern easily, wringing out her hair. "Although I've discovered you can't ever hold a bowl in one hand and scissors in the other without him disappearing."

When lunch rolls around, they mistake Naruto's stomach for thunder. They're hunkered down on a branch outside the library trying to use each other for warmth; all of them ready to leap off if lightning strikes the tree. They relax when Naruto sheepishly admits he's hungry. Hanabi's insides give an agreeing gurgle and she flushes.

Naturally Hinata arrives just then with a large thermos and a set of mugs, looking entirely too beatific for the current weather.

Through close, and sometimes unwilling, association, Hanabi has learned everyone wants to feed Sasuke tomatoes, so it is to her disgust when Hinata announces she has tried to make tomato bisque. She gives her sister a look summarizing her feelings on the matter and is deeply irritated when Hinata gets confused and tries to explain that a tomato is not in fact a vegetable so Hanabi should have no complaints about consuming it.

Whether Hinata knew Sasuke has a tomato fetish or not, she certainly can tell Sasuke has a twitch-smile that lights up his face like a rainbow. A rainbow made of light refracting through _blood_. Hanabi blames the weather for any unnecessarily uncharitable thoughts. It could be argued all of them are necessary though.

The rain makes it easier for them to trail their mark unnoticed, because looking up gives you an eyeball full of water and no one is crediting this guy with an overabundance of smarts. They tail him right to what is definitely a love hotel meeting up with someone who is definitely not the boyfriend. They assume from the intensity of the greeting kiss their job is pretty much concluded. Sasuke snaps a picture because even if Naruto has mastered total non-movement, he can't use a camera without something going wrong.

Hanabi can't say this was better than chasing cats and walking dogs. She would rather have helped with Hinata's birthday party, but there isn't going to be a formal one this year. And Hinata stopped believing in birthday parties when her friends started complaining they didn't know what to get her. Hanabi knows her sister likes presents as much as the next girl, but she can't stand feelings of 'obligation'. Hinata hates when people do things for her because they feel they have to. Hanabi doesn't understand how her sister can be a person who gives and gives and gives, and then is surprised when other people want to give in return. Her sister is more than a little strange sometimes. _She _doesn't even have the excuse that Neji dropped her when she was a baby.

Hanabi is still paying him back for that.

She wonders what she'll do in Ame. Her father made it clear the one thing she had better do is _behave_, but she's not sure what that will entail. She's supposed make friends with Konan's herd of orphans, even though they are from everywhere and in varying states of disillusioned with _shinobi_.

Hanabi doesn't know what to expect. The thought unnerves her, and having a few more days to think about it isn't helping. But she is Hyuuga and she is a _kunoichi_. She will have her father and her teammate and her own skill behind her.

What's the worst that could happen?

* * *

Cue the dramatic music.


	75. Mirror

Against my inner (and outer) Asian I am using the Gregorian calendar, because that's Kishi's birthday system despite the feudal Japan vibes, and trying to convert from lunar to solar and vice versa is hardly a worthwhile expenditure of time.

Speaking of birthdays, unearthed the PV for Triangle in the annals of my computer's video folder and am reminded that Hero from DBSK (TVXQ) makes me think naughty things and is not two dimensional. I only mention this because certain parties promised me a cabana boy for my birthday. Hence: hotness that isn't cel shaded. I'm so helpful. Think they can get one here by Sunday?

* * *

75 mirror

Ino herds Hinata into the curtained enclosure with a small fortune in clothes.

"You need to get new clothes for New Year anyway; I fail to see why I can't just give them to you for your birthday. Try the green one first."

Hinata doesn't want to say that the kind of clothes Ino will pay for are not appropriate attire for celebrating New Year in the Hyuuga household. She peels her damp shirt off thankfully and obediently tries on the green one first. She frowns at the mirror, trying to find something wrong with it. Something that _Ino_ will accept as 'something wrong with it'. Hinata doubts 'you could kill a man in this cleavage' will convince her.

She draws back the curtain reluctantly and stands through Ino's, surprisingly silent, scrutiny. The blonde pulls an elastic band from an invisible pocket and does Hinata's hair up in a stylishly sloppy bun.

"Oh yes, you look hot," Ino concludes gleefully. "We are so totally getting this one so you can show your awesome lines off to Sasuke."

The smirk spreads across Ino's face in tandem with the blush on Hinata's reflection but it suddenly twists into a frown.

"You're practically eighteen and a _chuunin_ and an _heiress_ and you _can't_ use chronic shyness to get a man. I mean, that only works in bad fiction. _Real_ men won't pursue a girl who doesn't express her interest in him, unless he's a rapist. Or a _ninja_, but only if he's on a mission or pathological or… The point is, make Sasuke notice you as a woman and not your sister's keeper."

"Why are you so set on pairing us off?" Hinata asks with a mix of exasperation and anxiety.

"Because it would work," chirps Ino blithely. "Now the pink dress."

They end up going to tea so that Hinata can decide if she doesn't absolutely _love_ these cakes.

"So when did you start liking Sasuke?"

Hinata is glad the drinks haven't arrived else she'd probably be choking on hers.

"_Liking_ liking," the blonde continues. "Not just admiring the hotness or the badass or even the wallet. Not that you'd ever like a man for his money."

"I don't…" Hinata struggles, "I don't know if I really—"

"Oh _come on_, you light up like a shop full of mirrors at high noon when you're with him."

"I'm not exactly in the depths of despair and darkness when I'm not," Hinata points out.

"So you're not pathetically obsessed," Ino waves her hand airily. "God Hinata, talk about bad fiction. No one falls passionately in love _before_ they start going out, or at least having sex. I can't imagine letting anyone but my fabulous, fully-committed, tall, dark and gorgeous, yet-to-be-discovered boyfriend have my hopes and dreams and faith. There might be exceptions, but _we_ are entirely too normal to be that lucky."

Hinata kind of thinks the waitress listening in while she serves their drinks doesn't quite agree with Ino's assessment of their normality.

"And you think Sasuke should be my…"

"You don't? He's totally dishy, and completely dateable if you ignore the fact that his personality requires getting used to and most fathers would sooner ship you to Suna than have him at dinner, but you know."

"You sound like you'd date him if you had the chance," murmurs Hinata.

"What?" Ino squawks and then composes herself. "Oh no. You remember, we promised. Get over the guy, stay over the guy, and never hate him because that just screws you over. Besides," Ino gives her plate a smile, soft and wispy compared to her usual dazzling brightness, "I'm grateful to him. Certain things make me want to tie him down in the village square and charge people a hundred yen to spank the bastard in a not fun way, but because of him, one way or another, we are who we are, and I for one _like_ myself as I am. I think he deserves a shot at happiness. And I truly believe that _you_ deserve to be happy too. Like I said. It would work."

Hinata fidgets with her teacup and finally asks timidly, "You think I could make him happy?"

"I think you're the only one who can. You're the only girl I know who looks at Sasuke, seriously looks at him, and your eyes don't change. Everyone else, their eyes go hard or they go soft. I don't know what they're seeing or who, but it's not Sasuke. It's Sasuke the _ninja_ or Sasuke the hotness or Sasuke the homicidal or Sasuke the justifiably unbalanced. I think you're the only one, besides Naruto, that has that much… I don't know what. And you like him. Your taste in men is much better than your sense of romantic-potential, but then no one's perfect." Ino toys with her tartlet. As much as she talks, she doesn't usually talk like this, so she busies herself with a strawberry to cover up the awkward stretch.

* * *

Hmm... well that _could _have gone worse. I think. Oh well. Today is a day to tell nuances to bugger off apparently.

Nooo Ino's not voicing my own personal opinions, what_ever_ made you think so? Although admittedly I read entirely too many _josei _series where you _can _find true love after a night of drunken passion. Wham bam marry me ma'am?

Do you know, I've discovered I _can not _write vanilla sex? Like words seriously don't come to me if there's nothing... unusual going down[punny!]. It could just be because I'd sooner swallow my notebook than follow the same linear model. Mouth-to-mouth, tongueA-in-cheekB, then to the jiggly parts followed by the other set of lips and then _petit mort_ etc. BOR-ING. I could just be unnaturally bent.


	76. Broken Pieces

Hero might be stretching it. MatsuJun? I mean, he's less pretty, more boyish cute. Him in _Kimi wa Petto_ and _Gokusen_(why only one season?!), totally adorable. I watched HYD more for Oguri Shun than MatsuJun though, which might make me somewhat of a bishi-slut, but whatever. I totally cried for Shun when I was watching GTO. But then GTO is all about Sorimachi Takashi and _his_ _arms_, oh his arms, so you know…

Hey, my boyfriend doesn't care that I gave another girl a ring for her birthday and now we consider ourselves engaged; I doubt he'll cry over fangirling. The ring was badass and Slytheriny; I don't think there was any question of Kes not accepting it just because it fit her ring finger best. Oversensitivity is such a turn-off.

* * *

76 broken pieces

Hinata has never been to Ame. She's concerned that if it lives up to its name, Hanabi will contract pneumonia or the flu or both. She's only twelve.

She worries all the way until she, Sasuke and Kakashi are seated in front of the Hokage and the caravan is less than a speck on the horizon.

"That man makes me entirely too uncomfortable," grumbles Tsunade, following Hinata's line of sight until she hits the bookshelf. "Hinata, eyes off and forward."

Hinata starts and bows her head apologetically.

"I don't even remember what drivel I had to feed your father to get him to agree. Whatever he told you was bull and I apologize. To you. Not him." Tsunade rummages and pulls out a box with a chakra lock. "Your mission requires you to go to the _daimyo_'s palace. Not as a _ninja_ but as a noble. Of course there will be political repercussions, and the mere thought of them makes your daddy break out in hives. Hence the little lie."

She fishes out a picture of a pretty green haired young woman. "This is Tomiko. The picture is over ten years old, but that was the last time she was here. She's married to the fourth son and she's a Konoha _chuunin_. The encryption she is using was compromised," she glances at Hinata, "and the _daimyo_'s New Year celebration is the only opportunity to get to her when she's not walled off in the Inner Court. Her position will put her a little out of spitting distance from the _daimyo_ and his attending bodyguards." Tsunade steeples her hands and looks at Sasuke directly. "Uchiha answer me honestly. Can your Tsukiyomi alter the perception of time?"

Sasuke doesn't acknowledge the internal twinge he feels at the mention of his brother. He only nods briefly. He finally managed that step toward overtaking Itachi, on his own power.

"Good. Memorize this," she tosses him a scroll. "You are going to teach her the code backwards and forwards and any other way she might need it in those few seconds. Hatake." Kakashi doesn't even pretend he wasn't paying attention. "Spitting distance from the _daimyo_. You need to be a distraction so they don't get Sasuke or Hinata. They can't get caught using chakra. Also Hyuuga Hiashi would gut and roast me if his eldest daughter were arrested for treason. I'd probably let him. Probably."

She riffles through the sheaf of papers and finds a map. "Since I can't call upon the Hyuuga treasury, I've sent ahead and here," she points to a small town a day away from the capital, "wardrobe, cash, even a nice gift for his lordship. You're looking for Natsu at the only inn. She'll be your coin purse and handmaiden, since I still have reservations about Uchiha's fashion sense. Tomiko won't know you're there for her. You _have_ to go unnoticed that close to the head of the country. And you two can't get separated. The _daimyo's_ daughter-in-law can't be seen talking alone with a man either." Tsunade fixes them with a serious stare. "I trust the three of you to pull this off successfully."

"Yes, Hokage-_sama_."

* * *

They have to delay their leave till tomorrow morning. The family will talk if Hinata takes off on a mission the second her father is gone. It upsets her that it's essentially her fault they can't go immediately, to handle the necessary details and formulate their strategy. Such an assignment requires so much more preparation and every second lost is like a needle in her. To avoid waiting patiently, she asks the maids to help her select a _kimono_ for New Year's.

"I have a mission, so I might not have time to decide when I return," she lies, knowing full well she will not be home anywhere near in time for the family dinner.

The clothes Ino bought for her are put into closet, but they make her think of even more uncomfortable things, so she shoves them further out of sight. But that doesn't get rid of Ino's words.

She drops down into her chair and goes over her afternoon carefully. Ino's right, she's not in love with Sasuke. He's completely ignored the broken pieces when her masks crack, which they seem to do often lately. She hasn't gotten more than thirty words out of him, much less anything like his weaknesses, his hopes, if he even liked the soup she made.

She wishes for her mother. She's a teenaged girl and some things just require a mother. But she's still a _ninja_. She'll survive this, and in a few years she will be able to tell Hanabi why 'like' comes before 'love'.

* * *

Bleh. I hate how unsubtle it is that will not end in an 'Aishiteru!' '.............. ore mo' moment. Of course, I hate those even more than unsubtlety, so I guess I'll live.


	77. Test

I don't know how much I want to argue with ff. net and its formatting neuroses. Really I just want to eat my cookie and take a nap, but I am twenty years too late for that sort of afternoon. At least I have a cookie. I think I'm going to need another if doc manager keeps pissing me off.

* * *

77 test

Shino assumes this, like so many things in his life, is just another test of patience. Ino pours herself a cup of tea and tops off his while she's at it, because she was brought up to be polite. For some reason, Shino isn't seeing it that way.  
"So what's the Aburame heir doing eating out all by his misery?"  
"Why am I alone? I didn't feel like dining with company."  
Ino doesn't take the hint. "So you know that thing we were talking about before" is just the beginning of her verbal tsunami.  
Shino is certain they haven't had a conversation in years, and even then it was probably the smaller version of the blonde girl informing the young boy that he was weird/creepy, and he explaining that he was not. As Ino prattles on, he picks out 'Sasuke', 'Hinata', 'romance', 'kitten' and 'orchids'. It dawns on him Ino _would_ consider yelling at him en passant to be a conversation, even though he was ignoring her entirely. The Ino-babble, meanwhile, has turned to 'Hanabi', 'Ame', 'kitten', 'orphans' and 'ice'.  
"Why take Hanabi instead of Hinata?" he interrupts, deciding the only way to turn Ino off is to throw her at someone she likes or answer her questions so she loses interests and floats away on her own. "Hanabi is a _genin_ and not the heir-apparent. As a child," his mouth curls as the word leaves it, "she would not be expected to remain at her father's side all day. It would be a sign of trust that Hyuuga-sama leaves the care of his precious daughter to Ame. Hinata is a _chuunin_, therefore a threat and the heiress, therefore a target."  
Ino absorbs all of this quietly. "You know, you didn't used to sound so..." She decides she can't find the word she's looking for and moves on. "And I know you-" She stops, and then lights up. "Oh I get it. You specify the context of your words to appear like you wouldn't know a 'hidden meaning' if it bit you in the butt. Clever. Me, I just throw so many words out, no one knows what's important."  
She nods in satisfaction, like this is exactly what she'd planned to talk about when she accosted him twenty minutes ago.

* * *

Hinata goes to bed early, because she doesn't know what else to do.  
When she wakes up, she takes her time getting ready, and as soon as she is out of sight of the house, she turns her leisurely walk into a mad dash for the village gate. Sasuke is already waiting. Kakashi appears a few minutes later, tossing the rest of his breakfast to the pigeons.  
The pace they set is blistering; after three hours Hinata's throat is so dry she almost can't choke down her soldier pills. Kakashi must have noticed, for he calls a rest not two minutes later.  
She thinks she might have misjudged when Kakashi asks her to find a source of water and refill the empty water bottles.

"The Hokage has next to no information on the _sharingan_," Kakashi states as soon as Hinata is out of sight, knowing she would be far too polite to call him on such an obvious excuse. Sasuke wipes a bead of sweat from his cheek wordlessly. "And you haven't been offering it."  
"Neither have you," Sasuke snaps back, resorting to fiddling with his sleeves to sidestep his teacher's piercing gaze. Kakashi simply lets the silence stew until the last Uchiha cracks. "I am Konoha _shinobi_, even if only you and Naruto believe that. If I don't want to use tsukuyomi, I may as well not have it. The _sharingan_ is not the only thing that comes with a cost," he adds with a low growl.  
Kakashi smiles brightly and pats him on the head. "I haven't seen this side of you since you were twelve."  
"What?" The word is practically a snarl.  
"Self-sacrifice. I was worried you had forgotten it. I shan't insult you by insinuating it was anyone's doing but your own." Kakashi pointedly fixes his gaze on Hinata's waiting pack and proceeds to insinuate the hell out of it.

Hinata returns with the water bottles, hearing only silence as she approaches. She ducks under the last branch and the sudden snap of tension makes her feel six again, walking into the classroom when the girls have been talking about her. She returns the bottles to their owners and wonders if maybe she 'forgot' something at the little thread of stream water.


	78. Drink

It's almost Samhain. Boy and I are going to Great America's Halloween Haunt. I am slightly disappointed they won't let us wear costumes in. It does save me hours of trying to do cosmetics a la Black Swan, but I found the perfect dress months ago and now I don't get to wear it. So sad panda.

* * *

78 drink

Sasuke uncaps his bottle and takes a small drink, only enough to wet the back of his throat. Hinata avoids staring in fascination, but just barely.  
They keep moving.

They don't stop until the night blends the trees and the ground into a dark, brownish blur and Konoha is a distant smudge hidden by leaves.  
Sasuke can't see it as he cuts slabs out of the ground, but knowing it is there behind them is a relief. The last time he turned his back to the Village... Kakashi dumps a pile of deadwood in the center of their new firepit and fishes around for tinder.  
Sasuke decides to give up on introspection entirely, as he always seems to do it around inconvenient people.

The only reason she sees is because she is on watch, byakugan activated and adrenaline flaring at the slightest of movements. She sees the the last Uchiha reach for his pack, and she sees his hand close on the empty space beyond it. Two interminable heartbeats later, he picks it up like nothing has happened and takes out his whetstone.  
She thinks of Hikiko-obaasama, who collapsed last year when the engorged chakra channels of the byakugan pressed against the already constricted blood vessels around her brain. She thinks of Kakashi who has to cover his left eye to preserve it. It doesn't take a medical prodigy to conclude the sharingan breeds true only with sacrifice.  
She thinks of things she cherishes, of her family, of her pride, of her friends, of her village. She thinks of what she has done and not done for their sake, of what she will sacrifice and who, if the moment comes.  
She thinks of Hyuuga Hizashi, the man she is proud to call her uncle, and she knows sacrifice can be selfish.

* * *

Her hand barely touches him and he is awake, once quick motion away from breaking her fingers. She watches him curiously; his pupils fluttering to focus on her.  
"Next time, just say my name. No enemy ever would." He brushes her away, and takes his seat by the flickering fire. He thinks, with something very very distantly related to fond amusement, that Hanabi would have thrown something in her sister's place. He is rather glad Hanabi isn't here.

Hinata lays her head on her equipment and tries not to fidget. She doesn't mind the twigs and pebbles pressing into her back, but the feel of her kunai under her head, even padded by spare clothes… She remembers a story Kurenai brought back for her daughter, about a prince who found his princess with a bean and fifty futon. She doesn't think she is quite that delicate, but then again, she is no one's princess.  
She catches a glimpse of Sasuke's shadow as she settles her shoulders. She stifles the urge to curl into a kittenish ball and bury her smile in the sad substitute pillow. It's just a little thrilling, like the night before a birthday, to think she will see him in the morning.

Sasuke doesn't like playing guard. People tend to not sleep around him, and he hates that he is essentially wasting his time. Usually, it's because they are too afraid to close their eyes. Occasionally they stare at him, no doubt fueling their insane delusions, until they finally pass out.  
Sasuke dislikes playing guard almost as much as he dislikes being guarded.  
He thinks of Karin and shudders a little. He was always reluctant to give her watch duty, even though she was clearly the best suited for it. She was convinced his unwillingness stemmed from his being a gentleman.  
Pathetic. She reminded him of Sakura, of all the stupid little hopes she tried to pin on him, all the ridiculous dreams she couldn't make come true.  
Naruto at least, even though his dreams are stupidly idealistic and rabidly infectious, does not rely on anyone else to fulfill them. Maybe that is why Sasuke can rely on him. Or maybe it's why Sasuke feels the urge to make him eat dirt nearly every time he opens his mouth.

It's possible Hanabi is right and he really is incapable of being nice.  
He decides no, she isn't, he is merely saving his charitable thoughts for his next psychological evaluation.

* * *

I dislike how the separator keeps eating the subsequent text. I have clawed people for lesser offense.


	79. Starvation

It's been a year and a half since I updated this story, but half of this update was finished last December. I'm just kind of a bitch and I like keeping to my system. Also, the manga from the past year and half has been... well let's just say there's no fodder for imagination.

And yes, it is very likely I have gotten even more pretentious in my old age.

* * *

79 starvation

Natsu turns out to be the owner of the only inn and she is so efficient, even Kakashi doesn't quite know how she gets them all settled. Hinata finds a beautiful kimono in her room, decorated with pine boughs and a single snowy crane. The wooden stand looks more than ready to sit with the _daimyo_ in its glorious raiment, sun-bleached and creaking though it is. Hinata can't help wondering how wonderful Sasuke will look.  
With his many crimes pardoned, he is the de facto head of the Uchiha. Hinata can't claim to know Sasuke as well as Naruto does, but she understands pride, even if she doesn't possess much of it. A man like Sasuke would have had to put his considerable pride aside to accept a pardon with more requirements than reparations. Sasuke must have wanted very much to be a Konoha _shinobi_ again. After the wars he has fought, personal, political and physical, she feels naive and grossly idealistic next to him. She smiles as she recalls that he doesn't seem to mind.

Sasuke has been interrogating their hostess, demanding to know who delivered the _daimyo_'s gift and when, and what the Hokage arranged for transport into the city. Hinata thinks Natsu looks a little like Uchiha Mikoto; what she distantly remembers Uchiha Mikoto looked like. It's been over a decade since she died, and Hinata only ever saw her from behind her own mother's leg.  
Suddenly it dawns on her that she doesn't know if the Uchiha were buried as traitors, the bodies piled into a hole outside the village and forgotten, or if some one had arranged for proper graves, if only to maintain the fiction. That thought leads her to Naruto, Naruto who told the village the truth of the Uchiha massacre, Naruto who appealed on Sasuke's behalf, not as the man who saved the world once, but as the boy who refused to be a hero while his promises lay unfulfilled and his answer to pain unproven.  
She could not remember much of what happened after he'd finished, but his words and his expression remain burned in her memory.  
Hyuuga Hinata had once childishly thought that she might happily die for Uzumaki Naruto. Kiba insisted that was stupidly fatalistic and people were supposed to be encouraging her to 'live for herself'. Hinata couldn't tell him living for something was infinitely more difficult than dying for it.  
It was in that moment Hyuuga Hinata decided she would live to see Naruto's dream come true. She could not, and did not want to, live or die for him; he would never have forgiven her if she had tried.

* * *

Hinata doesn't sleep. The inn pillow is only slightly more comfortable than lying on her pack in the middle of a forest. She reminds herself she is exhausted and tomorrow will be just as stressful. It doesn't help.  
She counts kanji, recites the first two chapters of The Tale of the Heike in her head, considers trying to find the kitchen to make some tea but discards the idea because she'd have to pass Sasuke's room and she is quite sure he throws first, ignites second and asks questions last.  
Her mental pummelling turns to her temporary teammate, latching on to all the things she knows about him, all the things she wishes she knew. She wonders about the bits of his soul dying of starvation, the voids in his heart and the cracks in his mind. More than just wondering, she finds herself worrying. She doesn't have the right to act, to nourish his soul or fill his heart or hold his mind, but no one can stop her from worrying. She is very good at it.  
She turns over and her eyes catch the white threads in her _kimono_, glowing in the watery moonlight. Her thoughts drift to clouds and cotton balls and the baby Bantam Hanabi once tried to adopt in full view of its mother; she finally falls asleep.

Sasuke wakes a little after dawn. He identifies the cause as the faint rattle of plates and tickling scent of miso and fish coming from downstairs. He runs his hand through his hair because his mother was always after him to comb it. He hasn't woken up like this in years. The thought makes his gorge rise and he spends a long two minutes reminding himself he is not a child anymore.

* * *

My goal in life is to make people pull out a dictionary at least once a day. It's good for you.


	80. Words

I think ff. net is also eating my italics. It might be too late to eat the plot. I think I lost hold of that a while ago. I want it to be the weekend now.

* * *

80 words

The _daimyo_'s palace is filled with light and sound, barely containing the crush of fine brocade and people. Every now and then Hinata can taste hostility beneath the heavy perfumes. She has no idea how much of is it directed at what she is and how much at who. Her mother explained a long time ago that most of the aristocracy viewed _shinobi_ as tools, useful at best and dangerous at least. The idea of tools having wealth and connections grates nearly as much as the necessity of employing them.  
What happened three years ago supports those arguing for the complete dismantlement of the Hidden Villages. What happened three years ago supports those arguing for their preservation. What happened three years ago terrifies them all.

Sasuke sees faces paling the moment they become aware of him, but he never accords them more than a glance. He saw more than enough of them during the wait for the _daimyo_'s decision. It would have no bearing on the Hokage's, but he could sense what an important stepping-stone he was.  
Those who wanted the Hidden Villages abolished and burned to the ground for harboring homicidal freaks wanted him dead. Those who wanted the Hidden Villages vacated so they could hire the best homicidal freaks for themselves wanted him penniless and adrift. Those who believed in their fathers' system wanted him to be Konoha's problem. In the end it was some kiss-ass who reminded the _daimyo_ that Uzumaki Naruto was unnaturally fond of the last Uchiha, and Uzumaki Naruto played far too important a role in history to risk offending.  
With the lord being as pathetically wishy-washy as he is, even an Inuzuka could see the necessity of spies within the court.

* * *

They find a relatively peaceful vantage point where they can look over the crowd to find their target. They are not expecting her to find them first.  
Sasuke is more impressed than he thought he would be, but not by much. Tomiko's footsteps are lighter than other women's, but next to Hinata she moves with the stealth of a cardboard box. Her instincts are keen at least. More than Tsunade gave her credit for.  
"Back so soon, Uchiha-san?" she murmurs behind her fan.  
"Good evening, Tomiko-sama." Hinata bows with precisely the right amount of deference.  
"I see this isn't a social visit," she sighs. The words are almost inaudible under the thrum of music and chatter. "Perhaps you'd like to view the garden?"

Hinata is desperately chatting about the weather, waiting for the unknown signal. Sasuke simply stands, fixing his gaze on the exposed balcony. She resents him a little for this, even though she knows this is how he is. She likes him despite it.  
They all feel it, a sharp whine right inside the jawbone. It sets every dog howling, and the birds settling down for the evening take flight with a rush of wings.  
Tomiko's reflexes are good, but not nearly good enough. She only has time to note Sasuke's eyes going red before she is trapped in the illusion.

Hinata's first instinct is to activate her _byakugan_. Her second is to stop because security will notice. Finally she realizes it would be suspicious not to react naturally and by the time a woman in uniform shows up, Tomiko is tucked between the wall and Hinata like a good little civilian. Sasuke is nowhere to be seen.  
Hinata steps aside but doesn't dismiss her blood limit.  
"Where is Uchiha?" demands the guard.  
"On the roof, moving east. Ah, it looks like he's coming back," she reports truthfully. "May I help?"  
"That won't be necessary, Hyuuga-sama." The guard bows stiffly. "Security measures. You understand."  
"Trained in protocol if nothing else?" asks Sasuke with a hint of a sneer. "The guy following me was a rank amateur."  
"With all due respect to a guest of the _daimyo_," the guard allows her lips to curl in satisfaction, "we had three men marking you the second you left this balcony." She turns smartly and dissolves into the crowd.  
"They could see me, but they couldn't have caught me," Sasuke mutters.  
Hinata allows herself to giggle at the irritation in his words. A soft groan recalls her to the job. Tomiko's thick layer of make-up readily conceals her drained pallor. Hinata moves to help, but she is waved away with a weak 'not as bad as giving birth'.


End file.
